Age doesn't affect my form, Singh says

JAKARTA (JP): Age does not matter in sports achievement, as 38-year-old shot-putter Shakti Singh of India proved with a new meet record-breaking win on the opening day of the Asian Track and Field Championships on Monday.

"Well, I feel I'm still very young. You see that I performed better than the youngsters. Age doesn't affect my performance as long as I can maintain my physical fitness. I think experience is definitely much more important," he said with a laugh.

Singh threw 19.77 meters, 0.60 meters farther than the two- year-old record created by Mubarak Bilal Saad of Qatar.

"This is not my best performance. I threw 20.60 meters in an Indian domestic competition in the last week of July, my best Asian record this year."

The Indian has qualified for the Olympic Games in Sydney in September, but only sets a target for himself of reaching the final.

"I don't have any medal target at the Olympics. I only want to reach the Olympics final and plan to throw 20.60m at the event. It's really difficult to win a medal in this year's Olympics. Perhaps in the next Olympics I can bring home a medal," he said, adding he would fight it out to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Greece.

Singh, the 1998 Asian Games silver medalist, began his athletic career as a discus thrower. He represented India in the men's discus throw in the 1996 Olympics, his first appearance in the quadrennial event.

"I can take the advantage of starting my career as a discuss thrower as it really helps me to work on my speed when competing in shot put," said Singh, who was born on May 14, 1962.

Singh started his international career in the discuss throw in 1989, winning a bronze in his Asian Championships debut that year and fared better in the 1991 event with a silver.

He turned to shot put in 1995 after undergoing surgery on his left knee due to injury.

He won a bronze in the 1995 Asian Championships in Jakarta, another bronze in the next championships in Fukuoka, Japan in 1997, a silver in the 1998 Asiad before capping his shot put record with a gold here.

"I just started my career in shot put and I really enjoyed it. I have never thought of resigning until the next Olympics."

Despite his gold, Singh remains far from satisfied.

"If only I started shot put earlier, I believe I can become a good shot-putter now." (yan)