Arjuna winners aiming for greater glory

Athletics and its disciplines are as diverse as chalk and cheese. Joseph Abraham scorches the track with his rhythmic strides to clear the hurdles over 400m, while Krishna Poonia hurls the discus.

Athletics and its disciplines are as diverse as chalk and cheese. Joseph Abraham scorches the track with his rhythmic strides to clear the hurdles over 400m, while Krishna Poonia hurls the discus. But on Friday, their destiny was bound by a common thread --- the two were selected for the Arjuna Awards. And that's where the commonality ends.

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While Abraham got the news before his race, Poonia got to know about her fate after her event at the Asian All-Star event. While Poonia strode to the top of the podium with a distance of 60.93m, Abraham managed a silver, which he said was because of the award. And that's where the romance of the country's sporting award lies.

The excitement was palpable in his voice, when Abraham said an hour after his 400m hurdles: "I was so excited after the news reached me that the first few strides I took out of the blocks were a tad too fast. I missed my steps in the first hurdle.

"I have been doing well in training and I was expecting around 50.02 here," he said with a smile. "I could have easily run below what I have run (50.87s)."

Though he won the silver behind Takayuki Koike (50.08) of Japan, Abraham felt he could have done much better on the fast track. "The track is faster than the older one and will get good timings here during the Commonwealth Games," he predicted.

However, being a realist, he has more hopes of winning a medal at the Asian Games, than here at the CWG. "The Commonwealth Games will be tough and I have to perform better than my personal best of 49.5s to win a medal."

Poonia, on the other hand, got the news after her event. "Good that I came to know about it later," she said. "It's such a kind of achievement that one cannot hide one's emotions."

Though she managed gold and had no problem with the circle where Vikas Gowda was finding it hard to find a grip on Thursday, Poonia was not happy with her distance. "I am capable of a much better performance," she said. Crossing the 60m-mark has not been a problem for her, which she believes will fetch her a medal at the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games.

"I am looking for the 64m mark. If I achieve that, no one can stop me from stepping on to the podium," said Poonia who will train most likely in Ukraine for the Commonwealth Games.

Ranjith Maheswary (triple jump), Sinimol Paulose (1500m), Juana Murmu (woman's 400m hurdles) too had gold in their kitty.