CWG 2018: Brave Muhammed Anas makes history, almost

GOLD COAST: It was his first international meet of the season, not to forget, the biggest race of his life. But shortage of experience on the world stage was no deterrent for Muhammed Anas as he proved in the men’s 400m final on Tuesday that the 23-year-old could be a world beater in the coming years with the right kind of support.
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In the end, Anas became part of India’s famous Fourth Place club, joining the likes of Milkha Singh and PT Usha who had both closely missed bronze.Anas may not have come that close to the legends who missed Olympic medals, but in a world-class field at the Carrara Sports Stadium he was within sniffing distance of a bronze that eventually went to Javon Francis of Jamaica — part of the silver-winning 4x400m quartet at the Rio Olympics.
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Anas clocked 45.31 seconds and Francis was just 0.2 seconds faster to the line. It helped the Indian better the national mark of 45.48s set by KM Binu at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Issac Makwala of Botswana took the gold in 44.35 seconds followed by teammate Baboloki Thebe who timed 45.09 for silver.
An exhausted Anas, the first Indian to make the 400m final after Milkha Singh’s famous run in Cardiff CWG in 1958, said when he started the competition he never thought he would reach the final. “I thought I will crash out in the heat. But then I gained confidence and now I’m here fourth. I’m happy,” he said.
Earlier, Hima Das continued her impressive season as she blitzed into the final of the women’s 400m. Competing in the first semifinals, the Assam girl timed 51.53 to qualify for Wednesday’s title round as one of the two fastest losers. The top-2 from the three semis plus the two fastest losers made the final. Anas, the Navy man, who almost made the qualification in Federation Cup, said coach PB Jaikumar’s advice of watching out for the start held him in good stead. “I wanted to go for the bronze but in the end I couldn’t catch him (Francis). In the semis I ran better and I had I repeated that today, I would have won the bronze,” said Anas, “The coach had asked me to be careful at the start.” Of the seven who finished, Anas was the fifth fastest off the blocks.
“I ran here for experience and now my focus is on the Asian Games. I heard that I was the first after Milkha Singh to make the final but I tried not to think about all that,” he said.
Speaking to TOI in Thiruvananthapuram, Anas’ coach Jaikumar said he was expecting his ward to clock 45.10 seconds. “There were a few mistakes as he ran the first 200m a bit slowly. In the end he caught but the initial phase cost him a few milliseconds,” Jaikumar said.
The coach felt Anas could have performed better had he got some chance to run abroad.