Not ready to rest on her laurels

BANGALORE, June 8: Rosakutty Antony was an extremely happy person after attending the Holy Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday, a day ...

BANGALORE, June 8: Rosakutty Antony was an extremely happy person after attending the Holy Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday, a day after she ran a superb race in a new Games record time of 2:03.08 to win the two-lap race at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here.

“I’m happy that I’ve won a gold for Karnataka, where I intend to settle down. In fact, my husband, Antony, belongs to Hassan,” said the 33-year-old Arjuna Award winner, whose donning the Karnataka colours sparked off a controversy before the fourth National Games began.

“It is true that I had signed for them (Kerala) at one stage but the Karnataka athletics officials wanted me to join their team at any cost as I’ve been living here for a little over five years. I was left with no other option and hence decided to opt for Karnataka.

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“Now that I have won the gold in the 800m, the controversy itself is all a thing of the past,” recollected Rosakutty, who hails from Ayavana village, in Ernakulam district of Kerala.

About yesterday’s record-breaking race here, she says it was all over by the first lap itself in which she had a sub-57 secs time.

“I knew that Jyotirmoy Singh (nee Sikdar) had speed but lacked stamina. So the best way to stand me in good stead was to keep myself in the front at the beginning. On the advice of my coach Purushottam Rai, I did so and others were nowhere by the time I completed the first lap, ” said Rosakutty, who won a bronze in 800m at the Beijing Asiad in 1990. She had earlier bagged a silver in the event at the 8th ATF Meet in Delhi (1989) when the eventual winner, Chinese Sun Sunmei, was banned by the IAAF for doping. Shiny Wilson, originally second, was elevated to first and Rosakutty to second.

In the 800m, Rosa’s personal best of 2:01:06 seconds came when she finished second to Shiny Wilson at the SAF Games in Chennai (December, 1995), where the latter broke the two-minute barrier for the first time.

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About K M Beenamol, the budding Kerala athlete, who won a gold in the Asian junior athletics in 1993 in Delhi, Rosakutty says, “She is promising indeed, but lacks international exposure.” Beenamol was third yesterday, behind Rosakutty and Jyotirmoy Sikdar.

At the moment, Rosa plans to go on at least until the next Asian Games in Bangkok. “Retirement? No, not till the Asian Games After all, why should I quit at this stage, when only Shiny Wilson is around as my competitor.”