With an eye on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, India's top athletes impressed atvarious continental events in the year which also saw many new faces coming intolimelight.
Apart from the World Championship in Osaka, Japan, there were not many reallybig ticket events this year but Indians managed to make some impression at thecontinental events where many new athletes showed promise.
India finished second behind sporting powerhouse China in the Asian AthleticsChampionship held at Amman.
The event was originally scheduled for Beirut but security concerns in theLebanese capital came in the way. There was a good chance that the championshipcould come to India but it was eventually hosted by the Jordanian capital at avery short notice.
The 41-member Indian team came back with 15 medals, including five gold (justtwo less than China).
Kerala athlete Renjith Maheshwary, who emerged as a force to be reckoned with inthe triple jump this year, claimed top honours with an effort of 17.19m with awind-aided performance.
Maheshwary had earlier broken the long standing national record when he becamethe first Indian to cross the 17m barrier, thereby surpassing the mark of 16.79mset by Mohinder Singh Gill way back in 1971.
The historic effort of 17.04m came at the Asian Grand Prix held in Guwahati.Maheshwary bettered the national mark twice at the same meet and claimed goldmedals at all three legs of the Grand Prix circuit.
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Navpreet Singh
Shot putter Navpreet Singh claimed the yellow metal at Amman with a throw of19.70m.
Among the women, Chitra Soman came home first in the 400m in 53.03 seconds whileSinimol Paulose did likewise in the 1500m (4:25.67s).
India's golden quartet of Mandeep Kaur, Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Chitra K.Somanlived up to expectations leaving the field behind in the 4x400m relay,completing the race in 3:33.39s.
India came home with three gold, three silver and four bronze medals from thesecond Asian Indoor Games in Macau to be third behind China and Kazakhstan.
Chatholi Hamza set a new games record of 3:50.22s in the men's 1500m. P J Vinodset a national indoor record in claiming gold in the heptathlon with 5561points. On the distaff side, Sinimol Paulose won the 1500m in 4:22.56s.
The year saw several national records bettered apart from the one achieved byMaheshwary in triple jump.
Joseph Abraham amended his own 400m record three times in 2007. He also becamethe first Indian to break the 50 second barrier in 400m Hurdles.
Competing against world's best athletes at the Osaka World Championship, Abrahamreached the semifinals clocking the best timing ever by an Indian (49.51s) tofinish seventh.
Discus thrower Vikas Gowda emerged as India's big hope for the Beijing Olympicswhen he broke his own national record with a distance of 64.96m at a collegiatemeet at Salinas in the United States.
Among women, Preeja Sreedharan, set her fifth national mark in the 10,000m whenshe clocked 33:19.71s during the Federation Cup in Kolkata.
