Manjeet confident of relay team's show in Beijing

Beijing-bound quartermiler Manjeet Kaur on Wednesday said she would give her best to help the 4x400m women's relay team better their Athens Olympics performance in next month's Games in the Chinese capital. Manjeet is one of the Indian women's 4x400m relay team member which booked a ticket for Beijing Olympics after securing 15th position in the latest IAAF rankings following their fine show in the second Asian Grand Prix at Korat in Thailand last month. "In 2004 Olympics we were juniors in the relay team but still we qualified for the finals. This time we are seniors and have experience behind us. We will definitely try to better our Athens performance in Beijing," Manjeet told reporters in New Delhi on a felicitation ceremony organised by her sponsor, construction major Omaxe. Asked about the team's preparation for the quadrennial event, the Arjuna Awardee said, "Our preparations for the Olympics is moving on the right track. For the last few months we were busy training together in the country as well as abroad. We are leaving for Malaysia today for another training stint and from there we will fly straight to Beijing for the Games." Manjeet, who has also attained the Olympic B qualification mark in 400m, would not promise for a medal and said the quartet will concentrate to do better than the last time. "The competition will be tough and we are not thinking of medal at this stage. Our main focus is to give our best in Beijing," said the Punjab Police sub-inspector, who bagged a gold (4x400m relay) and a silver (400m) at the Doha Asian Games and a silver (400m) at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. "Now we are in the 15th spot in the Olympics relay field, but you never know we might finish in the first four, or on a given day we might come out with a medal," she added. Earlier in the year, Manjeet got a boost in her preparations for the Olympics when Omaxe gave her Rs.34 lacs to train at V S Athletics Track Club in California under former famous American sprinter Cedric Hill. "At this time when all sponsors run after cricket, it comes as a big boost for any athlete to get sponsorship. "We are getting medals in Asia and in Commonwealth, but to win a medal at world level you need support from all quarters of the country," she said. She added that the financial assistance would help her prepare better for the 2010 Commonwealth Games here. "After the Olympics I will be undergoing special training sessions for a year at California under Hill for the Commonwealth Games."

Shailaja insists she had better chance in Beijing

Distraught after losing the lone Olympic berth to Monika Devi, woman lifter Shailaja Pujari today claimed she would have been a better bet in Beijing. Talking to PTI defying a gag order by the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF), Shailaja said if yesterday's selection trial in Bangalore was the yardstick, she had better chance of doing well in Beijing that Monika. Shailaja (75kg) lifted a total of 236kg (106kg snatch+ 130 clean and jerk) at the repeat selection trials which should have placed her seventh in the latest rankings while Monika's (69kg) lift of 224kg (101+123) ranks 15th. Shailaja said though Monika won silver and two bronze in the Asian Championship in Japan in April-May, the berth was won by team effort and if her performance at the selection trial was the basis then she should have been selected. "I lifted 236kg, 12 kg more than Monika and my total is seventh in latest world rankings and naturally I have more chance to perform better than her in the Olympics. I am not being able to digest why I was not selected," Shailaja said. The selection trial was marred by controversies right from the beginning with IWF General Secretary B R Gulati being accused of taking bribes to get Shailaja selected after the first selection trial in Pune on June 29. This led to the Sports Ministry ordering a probe into the bribery scandal and asking IWF to cancel the trials and select Monika. Shailaja said Gulati told her that she was not selected because of the Ministry directive.