Amiya disappoints fans at Asian athletics meet

Odia sprinter Amiya Kumar Mallick continued his disappointing performance at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship at Kalinga Stadium here on Friday.

Even as the local crowd was cheering up for the Odia lad, Mallick got disqualified in the semi-finals of the men 100 metres sprint to the shock of the frenzied crowd.

Mallick was out of the competition due to a false start in the semi-final round.

"I had specially come to see Amiya perform on the track. But his disqualification broke my heart. He disappointed," said Prakash Nayak, a sports lover.

Earlier in the morning, the Indian men's 4x100 relay team was disqualified after one member of the quartet crossed his lane during the exchange of baton in the final turn.

The Indian team of John Anoorup, V.K. Elakkiya Dasan, J. Debnath and Amiya Kumar Mallick finished the race ahead of Korea. But they were later disqualified.

The frustration of athlete Amiya Kumar Mallick was evident after he had actually outrun his Korean counterpart despite the error in an inspired last sprint.

Olympian Anuradha Biswal expressed her shock over Amiya's disappointing performance.

"I don't know what happened to Amiya. We lost a sure individual medal," Anuradha said.

She, however, exuded confidence that Amiya will come back to his form and perform better in the 200-metre sprint event to be held on Saturday.

--IANS

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