Sikdar in electoral race

A former Indian track queen is running a fresh race, contesting the provincial elections in West Bengal.

Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, who bagged the women's 800 metres and 1500 metres double at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, is a candidate of the state's ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist).

"There are several things that need to be improved in this country and so I made this decision," she said over telephone from Ranaghat (west), her constituency which is about 80 km north of Calcutta.

Sikdar, 31, said her priority would be to ensure young athletes are given proper training facilities.

India, which has a population of over one billion, managed just one bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics last year.

The country has had better success since then with teenager Seema Antil winning the world junior women's discus, Vishwanathan Anand taking the FIDE chess crown and Pulella Gopichand the men's singles at the All-England badminton championships.

But Indian athletes constantly complain of poor facilities, in smaller towns and villages in particular.

"I will help needy sports people. There are many good athletes in the villages but few facilities," she said.

Sikdar was awarded India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, for her Bangkok performance but quit athletics soon after and left her job in the railways to contest the polls.

She said the decision to stand in the elections was not sudden. "My father was also into politics for a long time and has stood for elections. I have always been close to politics."

The Ranaghat (west) constituency returned a candidate from the state's opposition Congress party last time but the athlete's husband Avtar Singh, a former international athlete himself, said his wife is campaigning hard.

Many retired Indian sports stars have taken to politics in the past and Test cricketers Chetan Chauhan and Kirti Azad are among the prominent ones.

Asked whether she aspired to become the sports minister, she said: "I am not looking at any such post. I will go by whatever my party wants me to do, though party leaders do respect my opinion," she said.

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