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Last month, during a training stint in Yalta, Ukraine, Mandeep Kaur had strained her right hamstring and wasn't able to practice as much as she would have liked in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. Since she didn't want to risk aggravating the injury, she missed the chance to train the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
So when she ran in the first round of the 400 metres on Wednesday and qualified for the semifinal she had a prayer on her lips and hoped that the hamstring didn't trouble her again. On Thursday, she did better by qualifying for the finals of the women's 400 metres. Mandeep finished fourth in the second semi-final but her timing of 52.60 was good enough to see her through as the two best performers outside the top-two from each of the three races.
Her timing in the semifinal was way off the 52.29 she clocked on way to gold at the Asian All-Star meet in New Delhi in July and much higher than personal best of 51.79. However, Mandeep was confident of improving up on her personal best on Friday. A medal, she said, would be a bonus but the Indian athlete is not ruling it out.
"I did hold back a bit in the semifinals today as I expected that my timing would be good enough for a place in the final. I didn't want to strain too much as there was a chance of me aggravating my hamstring injury. I am not feeling any pain at the moment but I have not been able to train as much as I would have liked," Mandeep said on Thursday.
With the Asian Games around the corner, Mandeep wants to run her fastest 400 metres and carry that confidence to Guangzhou. "I came into the Commonwealth Games without hardly running for the past two weeks. So it was important that I ran very well in the first round on Wednesday. When I qualified for the semifinals it gave me a lot of confidence. So far I would say that I have done better than I expected. Now, if I can finish in the top-5 it would be an achivement for me," Mandeep said analysing her chances for Friday's final.
For the Punjab athlete the final will be an occasion to show that she is the best in the highly competitive 400-metre women's field in India. "I wouldn't want to boast and say that I am the best in the country but reaching the final means I am in good form in spite of not being not 100 per cent fit ahead of the Games."
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