PT Usha is confident if Tintu Luka races with a calm head, she can win the gold in women’s 800m here. The track and field events of Asian Games get underway on Sunday with the 800m scheduled on Wednesday.
“Tintu is in top form. If I was in her shape, it would have been a certain record here,” Usha told DNA on Saturday. “Only thing is she has to be mentally strong,” added Usha, who coaches Tintu at her academy in Kerala.
“Tintu is among the best runners here. Timing wise she is
No 1. If she races according to the plan, she will do well.”
The legendary Indian athlete predicted the main challenge for her ward will come from Bahrain’s Mariam Yusuf Jamal. “She is the only one who has gone below 2 this season, she ran 1:59:9 in July. But, it is not better than Tintu’s best of 1:59:17 that she ran in October.”
Usha believes the Chinese women runners are not in contention in the 800m. “They are all 2:02 plus. I am not worried about the Chinese girls.”
There was a lot of hype about Tintu in the Commonwealth Games as well, but she could not live up to the expectations. “The CWG was a very good experience for Tintu. Too much cannot be read in her performance there because CWG is normally very tough, it has world class athletes competing, who are very experienced.
“The only thing lacking in Tintu is experience, she needs exposure. Once she races in 10-15 races, you will find a lot of improvement in her performance. We are waiting for a good performance here,” said Usha.
