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Rust hampers Payyoli Express

When it came right down to cases, veteran P T Usha failed to match the power running of Damayanthi Darsha.

Usha miscalculated in timing her segments and, further, was blindsided by Svetlana Bodritskaya sneaking up on her shoulder, ending up with a bronze on the second day of the Asian Athletic Championships.

Paramjeet Singh, meanwhile, became the first Indian after Milkha Singh in 1960 to run the quarter mile in under 46 seconds, completing the 400m in 45.95. He had, however, to remain content with fifth place.

Javelin thrower Gurmeet Kaur, who took the bronze, and high jumper Bobby Aloysius, who finished fourth, bettered their own National records while Jyotirmoyee Sikdar ran a personal best in the women's 1500m, to grab bronze.

The other Indian bronze winners were shot putter Shakti Singh, who was in contention for the silver till the last round, and distance runner Gulab Chand in the 10,000m.

Usha really had no hope of going for gold, given Darsha's fine run in the heats. But with the Chinese Asian record holder Li Jing, who has a sub- 51 to her credit, and Chen Yuxiang looking in poor form, a silver seemed hers for the taking.

Usha ran a good first 200m, from an inside lane, positioning herself so she was able to keep an eye on both Darsha and Bodritskaya. 24.5 for the first 200m seemed good going, as she readied to break the stagger, though Usha later said she thought she had run the first stretch way too fast.

She then pushed herself flat out the next 100m, and had no reserves left as Darsha came storming into the straight, in perfect rhythm. Usha was stiffening by this point, and while she concentrated on trying to overhaul Darsha, she failed to notice the 27-year-old Kazak, Bodritskaya, creeping up. When she did spot the threat, it was too late to hold off the challenge. She lost the silver to the Kazak, who came in at 52.46 against Usha's 52.55. Underling that hers was a tactical defeat is the fact that she had, earlier this month, run a 52.43 at Chennai.

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, in the 1500m, took on the challenge of China's Liu Jing and Wang Chunmei. She however didn't have enough to finish it off, wobbling a bit towards the last bit of the home stretch, to finish with 4:14.32, her best ever. The top five in the race, in fact, bettered the existing meet mark.

Gulab Chand and Harish Tiwari took turns in dictating the pace in the 10,000m. On a humid day, it was tough for the distance runners and in a slow race, Gulab had the kick to grab the bronze in 30:14.69.

Rajeev Balakrishnan and Amit Khanna meanwhile were eliminated in the semifinals of the 100m, finishing sixth (10.54s) and eighth (10.76s) respectively.