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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Pemoline in urine: Indian disc thrower suspended Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Finland HELSINKI, Aug. 13 - The world track and field governing body imposed a provisional suspension on Indian discus thrower Leelam Jaswant while Russian Yelena Isinbayeva made the women's pole vault look like a demonstration event at the IAAF World Championships continued in the Finnish capital here last night. Jaswant, who was also planning to compete at the 10th South Asian Games in Sri Lanka next year, has been provisionally suspended by the IAAF, following an adverse analytical finding for the prohibited substance, pemoline. The IAAF said banned substances of S6 - stimulants, was found in a urine sample taken during on-competition dope testing here. Singh has been provisionally suspended under IAAF Rules pending a hearing before the relevant disciplinary tribunal of the Athletics Federation of India. The sanction for a first-time violation for pemoline is a minimum of two years, which means he would miss next month's Asian Championships in Korea, 10th South Asian Games in Sri Lanka, Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 2006 and also next year's Asian Games in Doha. Meanwhile, on the first pleasant evening of weather for a week, world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva thrilled a packed stadium in women's pole vault. The Russian lass cleared her attempts at 4.50, 4.60 and 4.70 m by so much that she could have done a couple of back flips and scored points for style in landing. Though she missed her first attempt at another World mark of 5.01 m, she bounced up smiling from the landing mattress. It could have been embarrassment, but you rather felt it was the conviction that she could do it and, in passing, win USD 100,000, to add to the pot of close to a million dollars that she has built up over the last two seasons, during which she also won the Athens Olympic gold. Monika Pyrek of Poland and Pavla Hamackova of the Czech Republic won silver and bronze respectively with 5.60 and 5.50m. World No.1 Jeremy Wariner maintained his supremacy, beating all odds on his way to taste the gold in the men's 400m. In the opening round of the one-lap race, he was given the unlucky lane eight; ran semis under rain and train under windy and clod conditions here. But he had the perfect weather when it needed the most - the final. Wariner was the finished article - from the moment the gun fired to the second that he crossed the line to add this gold medal to the Olympic Games title in Athens a year ago. He was breathtaking and Johnsonesque in the way he just dominated, winning by a large margin and running with that type on nonchalance that Johnson always had. Wariner clocked a personal best of 43.93 seconds, ahead of his American teammate Andrew Rock, who was a long way behind in second in 44.35 with Canadian Tyler Christopher taking the bronze in 44.44. It was for the first time in his career that Wariner had gone under 44. Allyson Felix, proved her semifinal statement that she was stronger than last year, winning women's 200m title in 22.16 seconds. Since the American won silver in Athens behind Jamaican Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, the implication was clear. And so it proved. Campbell shot away to a good lead, and Christine Arron of France got the start that she should have got in the 100m. But Felix clawed back the deficit on both of them, and forged ahead with 30 metres to run. Campbell folded and, ultimately so did Arron, losing second place on the line to American Rachel Boone-Smith. Boone-Smith edged Arron, both in 22.31, and Campbell fourth in 22.38. Russia produced another gold medallist as Olga Kuzenkova ended on top at the women's hammer throw final. The Olympic champion only took the lead from Yipsi Moreno of Cuba in the fifth round, with 74.03 metres. Moreno responded with 73.08 metres on her fifth throw, but Kuzenkova rubbed it in with 75.10 metres on her final attempt. Moreno duly won silver, and World record holder Tatyana Lysenko made it two medals out of three for the Russians. Sri Lanka's Manjula Kumara Wijesekera finished a poor 11th out of competitors in his Group 'A' qualification round of men's high jump. He cleared 2.15m in his first attempt but his next three jumps at 2.20 were failures. Had he achieved at least his season's best 2.25, he would have made it to the finals. Thus, the US trained Lankan lad was eliminated from the finals. Meanwhile, men's marathon final, in which Sri Lanka's Anuradha Indrajith Cooray, is down to take part, has just commenced at the time of writing. |
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