Beenamol in 400m semis

The Indian girl, who was nominated for the Arjuna award last week, finished fifth in her heat, clocking 52.17 seconds, her best timing this season.

The Railways athlete qualifed for the semis by virtue of being among the six fastest losers. However, her timing was much below her personal best of 51.21 seconds.

At the Sydney Olympics, Beenamol finished eighth in the semi-finals, clocking 52.04 seconds.

In the semi-finals on Monday, Beenamol will be running in the second heat, where she has the slowest qualifying time among the eight runners.

In the women's heptathlon, G Pramila Ganapathy, with 5492 points, finished 15th in a field of 18. Her performance was well below her personal best of 6105 points, which she achieved in Madras last year. She scored 5548 at the last Sydney Olympics, where she finished 24th.

Yelena Prokhorova of Russia won the gold, with 6694 points; Natalya Sazanovich of Belaruss got the silver, with 6539 points, and Shelia Burrell of the United States got the bronze, with 6472 points. Natalya Roshchupkina of Russia finished fourth, with 6294 points.

With Olympic champion Denise Lewis of Great Britain missing the event due to injury, and Barber Eunice of France dropping out of the competition, apart from the first three, the level of competition was the lowest in World championship history.

The other two Indians, Sanjay Rai, in the men's long jump, and Neelam J Singh, in the women's discus throw, will be in action on August 9.

A four-member Indian team is representing India at the Edmonton, Canada, event from August 3-12.