Suddenly, Malleswari back in the frame

The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) prior to the Bhubaneswar senior national meet, had announced that performance at that meet will be the main criterion for selecting players for the Asian meet camp. Malleswari wasn’t among the participants.

The Sydney Games medallist is among the 14 women lifters selected for the camp beginning January 17 in Patiala. The IWF has also short-listed eight in the men’s group.

If current performance was the yardstick for the selection, what was the basis for Malleswari’s inclusion in the national camp? She has been far from impressive in recent times. After her no show at the Athens Olympics, she hasn’t been able to showcase her talent in international competitions.

In Athens, Malleswari had participated in 69kg. While there was no sign of her illness the day before her competition, or even on the morning of her competition, she failed to lift her first weight on the dais. Today, she does not enjoy that level of fitness.

Supporting Malleswari, IWF secretary Balbir Singh Bhatia said the veteran lifters is in good form which was why her name is in the camp. “She could be a medal winner in Asian competition,” said Bhatia. However, in that case she shouldn’t have skipped the Bhubaneswar competition.

Malleswari, according to Bhatia, is based in Patiala and training hard. “Her performance is improving,” he added.

The continental competition in April will be the last opportunity for the Indian lifters, particularly the women, to book a passage to Beijing.

But in the Chiang Mai world meet, which was the first competition that Indians had participated in for Olympics qualification, Malleswari wasn’t among those selected.

THE PROBABLES

Men: G Elumalai, (Railways), K Ravi Kumar (Orissa), Santokh Kumar, Manjit Singh Lad Singh (Punjab), Pradeep Singh (Services), Sarabjit Singh (Police) and V Kumar (Tamil Nadu)

Women: M Siva Rani, K Tulasi (Andhra Pradesh), Renu Bala, T Inu Rani Channu (Assam), Karnam Malleswari (FCI), Chitra Chandra Mohan (Kerala), Ranu Mohanty (Orissa), H Shaya Devi (Manipur), A Sandhya Rani, L Monika Devi, Geeta Rani (Police), Soniya Chanu, Kavita Devi, Chanchal Yadav (Uttar Pradesh)