An apparent goof-up on the part of the Athletics Federation of India(AFI) of not fielding the required number of athletes that need to be present for the medal standings might have resulted in India not winning as many as three medals at the Asian Cross Country Championships in Bahrain on Monday.
Three athletes from India took the field in the men’s and women’s senior as well as the men’s junior and women’s junior competitions and barring the first event, they should have won the bronze medal in the remaining categories.
The reason for not winning? If sources in the PTI are to be believed then, then each country was to field four participants even as only the aggregate of points collected by the top three would be considered in the team event. India though fielded just three.
The calculation of points are based on the position for each runner with one point for the winner, two for the second-place finish and three for third place etc.
In the senior’s women’s category, India accumulated a total of 34 points with Sanjivani Jadhav, Swati Gadhave and Manisha Salunkhe finishing 7th, 10th and 17th. Bahrain won the gold and took home the third place with a total of 6 points with China finishing second with an aggregate of 32 points.
The junior women’s category also saw the hosts dominate proceedings as they took home the gold with their runners finishing 1st, 2nd and 5th respectively.India should have clinched the bronze medal in this event as well junior men’s category since Kisan Narshi Tadvi, Ansar Imam Dargiwale and Anil Kumar Yadav finished 8th, 10th and 11th respectively, thereby making it 29 points.
But instead, it was Iran who took home the medal. In the men’s event, it was Jordan who won bronze despite India having a lower aggregate of points.
