Madankumar Balakrishnan of NUS wins IVP men’s 1500m title

Contributed by reader Soh Rui Yong. Pictures by REDintern Farhanah Ghaffar.

Gombak Stadium, Sunday, 11 October, 2009 – Madankumar Balakrishnan of the National University of Singapore (NUS) ran a shrewd tactical race in the 1500m to achieve a triple triumph of sorts.

He won his first Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Track-and-Field Championships gold medal, clocked a massive personal record of 4 minutes 10.85 seconds, and exorcised what must be agonising memories of the 2008 final in which he came so close to winning by beating the very man that relegated him to the runner-up position, Muhammad Shah Feroz of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The race unfolded like a script from the outset, with Feroz taking the lead as expected, with Madankumar perched on his shoulder and watching his moves like a hawk. Confident in his finishing speed, Madankumar was content to let Feroz do the early work while he bided his time and waited for the opportune moment to unleash his kick.

In a brave attempt to shake off the rest of the field, Feroz seemed to go faster with each 100m and in doing so, succeeded in dropping nearly everybody by the final lap, apart from the man he was really hoping to drop in making such a move. There Madankumar was, peskily shadowing him.

With 300m to go, Feroz viciously stepped up the pace but Madankumar responded immediately and matched him stride for stride. With 200m to go, Feroz realised that he could potentially be in trouble with Madankumar still latched onto him and thus proceeded to put in another surge in an attempt to put the nail in the coffin for Madankumar, so to speak.

However, Madankumar just allowed Feroz’s surges to pull him along and as they entered the home-straight, that was where he sprung into action. Madankumar swung wide into lane two and executed his devastating sprint finish, leaving the defending champion trailing in his wake. Madankumar, taking the lead for the first time in the race, was never going to let it go with the finish so near and crossed the finish line victoriously.

To add the icing on the cake, the NUS electrical engineering student also smashed his old personal record of 4:13.10, replacing it with his newly-achieved 4:10.85.

Feroz had to settle for the runner-up position with a time of 4:12.71. Raviin Muthu Kumar of the Singapore Polytechnic paced his race well to take the bronze medal.

Madankumar and Feroz sure served up a treat of a race for the crowd. It was middle-distance running at his finest, in an epic final that has set the standard for IVP 1500m races in the years to come.

Both athletes will cross swords again this Sunday, 18 October, in the 800m final, where Madankumar will attempt to add to his 1500m gold and Feroz will no doubt be out to avenge his 1500m loss. It should be another exciting duel so do not miss the opportunity to catch the action at the Gombak Stadium!

Men’s 1500m final results
1. Madankumar Balakrishnan, National University of Singapore – 4 minutes 10.85 seconds
2. Muhammad Shah Feroz, Nanyang Technological University – 4:12.73
3. Raviin S/O Muthu Kumar, Singapore Polytechnic – 4:15.30
4. Chua Ee Ghim, National University of Singapore – 4:22.76
5. Leo Fang, Singapore Polytechnic – 4:23.85
6. Colin Tung, Nanyang Technological University – 4:24.28
7. Jerome Peh, Nanyang Polytechnic – 4:30.58
8. Brendan Lee, Singapore Management University – 4:39.89
9. Chester Cheong, Republic Polytechnic – 4:40.74
10. Haia Faviz, Institute of Technical Education – 4:46.66
11. Ravindran Dinesh, Ngee Ann Polytechnic – 4:51.00
12. Giebert Foo, Nanyang Polytechnic – 4:51.61
13. Yeo Kuan Heng, Republic Polytechnic – 4:51.66
14. Toh Wei Ming, Singapore Institute of Management – 4:54.94
15. Ong Xin Zhong, Singapore Institute of Management – 4:58.20
16. Benjamin Lau, Singapore Management University – 5:00.25
17. Fauzan Aziz, Institute of Technical Education – 5:03.94
18. Muhd Arif Bin Abdullah, Temasek Polytechnic – 5:12.12
19. Joshua Rodrigues, Ngee Ann Polytechnic – 5:14.33
20. Sunil Singh, Temasek Polytechnic – 5:35.49

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Check out the IVP men’s 1500m final (Video by reader Soh Rui Yong)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHe1Lbis2tc