Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports

Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic Track & Field 2009

Madankumar Balakrishnan (#1030) of NUS in action at the 2009 IVP Championships. (Photo 1 © Farhanah Ghaffar/Red Sports)

ITE College East, Sunday, July 25, 2010 — Madankumar Balakrishnan of the National University of Singapore (NUS) turned in a good shift at the 5th All-Comers Meet in not just one, but two races, with little more than an hour of rest in between.

The reigning Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) 1500m champion clocked 4 minutes 13.54 seconds in the 1500m to finish as the top runner in the event.

An hour later, he returned to the track to pit himself against a strong field of athletes in the 800m including Muhammad Shah Feroz, Raviin Muthu Kumar and Oon Kuan Yong, who had placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in the 800m at the 2009 IVP Championships.

Despite his earlier exertions in the 1500m, he surprised everyone including himself by not only winning the race, but also managing to go under the two-minute mark with a time of 1:58.80, just under a second off his personal best of 1:57.99 set at the last IVP Championships.

Two other athletes also went under the two-minute mark in finishing second and third. Nanyang Technological University’s Oon Kuan Yong capped off a remarkable closing 300-metre kick to finish in 1:59.03, just off the shoulder of Madankumar.

Kuan Yong had closed down the 10-15m deficit he had to make up on the lead pack of four — Feroz, Raviin, Hazwari and Madankumar — in the final 300m and came close to edging Madankumar in what is his breakthrough performance so far.

Singapore Polytechnic’s Hazwari finished third in a time of 1:59.36.

In a season where 16-year-old Youth Olympic Games hopeful Zachary Devaraj has been the top performer in the 800m and 1500m with times of 1:56.27 and 4:06.11 respectively, the gauntlet has been thrown down to seniors like Madankumar to match if not better those times.

And judging from the times that have been posted by the polytechnic and university athletes so far in what is still early track season for them, Zachary should not be afraid that there will be no competition for him in Singapore.

Click here for the full results from the 5th All-Comers Meet.

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