While the shooters and boxers got into the act on the opening day of the Commonwealth Youth Games, the athletes were cooling their heels as their events begin only from Tuesday. With a 57-member contingent, the Indians are out in full strength after having already set up camp at Balewadi a month ago.

Plenty of hopes are being placed on the slender shoulders of 18-year-old runner Poovamma Machetira from Mangalore in the one-lap race and chief coach Suresh Babu is confident that the youngster will come up with something special on the occasion.

“She’s doing very well and is one of the best runners in the world in her age category,” is how Babu describes the girl who came up with a seventh-position finish in the finals of the World Youth Championships held at Ostrava, Czech Republic last year. When asked how his ward compared with likes of track greats like PT Usha and Shiny Wilson, Babu was quick to point out that Poovamma has what it takes to be the best. “At her age, she is better than Shiny and Usha were,” he says.

In fact, Poovamma has something in common with Shiny, the former 800m champion, as she too got disqualified for cutting her lane at the Asian junior athletics meet at Macau (China) in 2006, where she actually finished third. Shiny, who was leading the pack, had lost out after missing her lane in the 1986 Asian Games at Seoul.

Babu feels that the 400m is one event which does not require too much speed or stamina and is ideally suited for Indian athletes. Agreeing, Poovamma says, “Actually, I used to run the 100 and 200m at school but after I won a 400m race at a meet, my coach advised me to stick with it.”

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