by Larry Eder
Galen Rupp, Bernard Lagat at Rbk BIG 5,000m, courtesy of PhotoRun.net.
Athletes are arriving in Doha, Qatar for the World Indoor Championships. The U.S. team is training there, as is Blanka Vlasic. Galen Rupp ran a 3:58.79 mile on Saturday and followed that up with a 1:50.64 800 meters as his final tune-up, before he headed to meet the U.S. team for Doha!
A hearty happy 80th birthday to Piotr Bolotnikov, the 1960 gold medalist at 10,000 meters! Mr. Bolotnikov is a spry 80 years old today!
DOHA NEWS
PANAMA: Olympic gold medalist Irving Saladino is confirmed to compete in Doha. His management company Global Sports informs. It will be his first meet of the year in long jump. But should be still ready for a win, the best this years mark is Salim Sdiri´s 824 cm.
BAHRAIN: Berlin 1500 m winner Maryam Jamal will at the end of the day not run in Doha. She only competed once and was 3rd in Birmingham mile race. Bahrain is also not sending 1500 m world champion Yusuf Saad Kamel who gave the priority to summer preparation.
BULGARIA: Added is experienced pole vaulter Spas Bukhalov, it will be his third World Indoors, he twice did not went through the qualification.
SWITZERLAND: Swiss pole vault record holder Nicole Büchler will most probably miss Doha due to an injury. She injured her left foot at Donetsk meet on Saturday. She landed on the bar after her 450 attempt.
NIGERIA: Title defender at 60 m Olusoji Fasuba will not travel to Doha, informs Punch newspaper. The AFN Technical Director, Sunday Bada, said that he did not met the required standard. Nigeria is so sending three athletes, two 60 m runners Peter Emelezie and Oghoghene Egwero and Seun Adigun for women 60 m hurdles.
LOC NEWS: The organizing committee of the IAAF World Indoor Championships has confirmed Aggreko, the global leader in the provision of temporary power and temperature control services, as a National Supplier of the event. Aggreko will be responsible for powering lighting and broadcasting units during the event. LOC website informs.
TRAINING: Many of teams already arrived to Doha and had first successful trainings. This information is coming from Poland, USA, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.
POLAND: Interesting to note that Doha will be broadcast in Poland via Orange sport info TV which is a sports dedicated channel created by leading mobile phone operator.
GREAT BRITAIN: World 800 meters bronze medallist Jenny Meadows self-confidence will be bolstered rather than hindered by carrying the burden of captaincy for the Aviva Great Britain team in Doha. Britain‘s golden girl Jessica Ennis despite a setback in her preparations with a foot injury believes she is in the best possible shape to win the World Indoor pentathlon title. Charles van Commenee refuses to name specific colors but firmly believes there is great possibility the Aviva Great Britain team will return from next weekend‘s World Indoor Championships with at least five medals. UK Athletics dynamic head coach is highly confident Dwain Chambers, Jessica Ennis, Phillips Idowu, Jenny Meadows and the men‘s 4×400 meters relay team will achieve podium finishes in Doha. Writes David Martin.
WORLD LEADERS: All 2010 world leaders should compete, only two are missing. US Torrin Lawrence at 400 m (he is NCAA bound) and Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy at 800 m who did not plan for Doha.
TITLE DEFENDERS: 8 men and 8 women will try to defend their titles from Valencia in Doha. That means 8 are missing from 24 individual events. Not competing on the men side Fasuba (60 m), Christopher (400 m), Holm (HJ), Lukyanenko (PV) and on women side A. Williams (60 m), Zykina (400 m), T. Lewis (800 m) and Hellebaut (pentathlon).
OTHER NEWS
ADDIS ABABA (ETH): World and olympic winner Kenenisa Bekele said for AFP that his chances to run in Bydgoszcz at World CC Championships are 50:50. Because of this injury he was not competing in Lievin last Friday in what was suppose to be his only indoor competition of the year. The Ethiopian team for Poland was not yet announced.
TULSA (USA): Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has had a trial with Women‘s National Basketball Association (WNBA) side Tulsa Shock as she continues to try to find a new role in life. Writes insidethegames.biz. The American, stripped of the five medals, including three gold, she won at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney after admitting taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, is hoping to reinvent herself a top-level basketball player. Jones, now 34, undertook an intensive workout in front of Nolan Richardson, head coach of the Shock and his assistants Wayne Stehlik and Tammy Bagby. Jones was formerly a top-class college basketball player and helped North Carolina win the NCAA title before giving it up to concentrate on her career in athletics. Jones is desperate for the opportunity to get back into the spotlight.
NAIROBI (KEN): East Standard writes that steeple runner Richard Matelong and Lineth Chepkurui will be captains of the Kenyan Team at World CC in Bydgoszcz later in the month. Both received unanimous endorsement from their teammates as captain and assistant skipper as the 24-member squad settled to intensive training in the high altitude Embu region.
BARCELONA (ESP): The European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010 has launched an innovative campaign where athletics fans will be able to print out their tickets at home. This process, known as “home ticketingâ€, makes life easier for all Barcelona 2010 ticket- or event pass buyers. Organizers are informing in a release. Home ticketing will be used for the first time in the history of sporting events on Spanish soil.
MOSCOW (RUS): Legendary Soviet Union runner and olympic 10 000 m winner Piotr Bolotnikov is celebrating his 80th birthday. Former world record holder won the olympic gold in Rome 1960.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Netherlands selected its team for European Cup Winter Throwing to be held on March 20-21 in France. Top star is world class thrower Rutger Smith who will compete in discus. Also in the team Doha-bound female shot putter Melissa Boekelman. Also to mention Erick Cadee in discus and Denise Kemkers in shot put.
RESULTS
AUCKLAND (NZL, Mar 6): Leading junior sprinter Isaac Tatoa achieved three Auckland records at Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday evening. Tatoa rocketed over 60m in 6.79s (+1.4), then got 10.59s (+1.7) at 100 m. A group of New Zealand’s top sprinters attempted the 4 x 100m relay performance standard of 39.40s for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games. Clayton Mbofana was brought into the team and he started handing over to Jeffrey Thumath. James Dolphin was in control on the bend leaving Carl Van der Speck to anchor them home in 40.23.
KINGSTON (JAM, Mar 6-7): At Jamaican Carifta Games Trials (to be staged next month in Cayman Islands) Brandon Tomlinson won the U20 100 m in 10.50 (+2.9) and Odane Skeen the U17 100 m in 10.43 (+4.0). In the women 100 m Natasha Morrison got 11.47 (+3.0) for U19 and Kadisha Dallas 11.75 (+2.2) for U17. Shericka Jackson won the U17 200 m with 23.94.
BARCELONA (ESP): The European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010 has launched an innovative campaign where athletics fans will be able to print out their tickets at home. This process, known as “home ticketingâ€, makes life easier for all Barcelona 2010 ticket- or event pass buyers. Organizers are informing in a release. Home ticketing will be used for the first time in the history of sporting events on Spanish soil.
BLOOMINGTON (USA, Mar 7): Two-time NCAA decathlon champion Jake Arnold posted a clutch performance in the seventh and final event to win the men‘s heptathlon for the third time in his career Sunday at the 2010 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. Arnold, who needed to defeat 2003 World decathlon champion and three-time Olympian Tom Pappas by 4.50 seconds in the final event of the competition (1,000m) to win the overall title, crossed the finish line first in 2:49.62 (770 points), with Pappas finishing fifth in 2:55.72 (707 points). Arnold scored 5861 over Pappas (5845).
BEIJING (CHN, Mar 7): Good high jumping in the second day of National Indoor Grand Prix meeting. Wang Yu cleared 224 and registered national junior record. Second Chen Ji had also 224. Zheng Xingjuan was the best woman registering 191 cm.
TORREÓN (MEX, Mar 7): Home runner Adriana Fernandez won for second time the Maraton Internacional Lala in 2:43:40. Men winner Kenyan Joseph Mutinda clocked in the 22nd edition of the race 2:15:38.
BATH (GBR, Mar 7): Kenyan Ezekiel Cherop won here the half-marathon after 1:03:03 ahead of Tomas Abyu (1:03:48). British female win by Michelle Ross-Cope in 1:12:07.
DUBLIN (IRL, Mar 7): Irish Inter-club CC Championships in Pheonix Park brought 8 km women win for Linda Byrne (27:10) and 12 km men triumph for Mark Kenneally (34:37) ahead of Gary Thornton (34:51).
SAO PAULO (BRA, Mar 7): Giomar Perreira Da Silva won the Sao Paulo Half-marathon ahead of Kenyans. His 1:04:31 was enough over Kiprop Mutai (1:04:32). Elizabeth Rumokol of Kenya was the best woman (1:14:35).
COCHABAMBA (BOL, Mar 7): Ecuador´s Rolando Saquipay won the South American Walking Championships 20 km race in 1:24:50. Silver for Adolfo Restrepo of Colombia (1:27:40). Female 20 km win for Sandra Galvis of Colombia (1:40:48). Junior 10 km winner was Brazilian Caio Bonfim (43:08).
CORRECTION
BAR (MNE): The throwing meet in Bar was held of course in Montenegro. Correction to EME NEWS (MAR 7, 2010)
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