Olympic champion Maurice Greene after winning heat 8 in round one of the men’s 100m in Athens on Saturday. (AFP)

Athens: Indian heptathlete J.J. Sobha had an absolutely satisfying long jump on Saturday, finishing second to her idol Carolina Kluft of Sweden in the event with 962 points. Kluft was way above, though, at 1,099 points. Sobha is now in 12th spot with 4,560 points. Soma Biswas of Bengal was down at the 26th spot with a total of 4273.

The same day, discus thrower Anil Kumar became the second competitor from the athletics squad to disgrace India (as if the weightlifting black spots weren’t enough). Following two foul throws, Kumar abandoned the last and ended rank-less with no mark.

The other discus entry, Vikas Shive Gowda, finished eighth in group B at 61.39 and failed to qualify. Though a poor performance, this isn’t disgraceful. His three throws were at 61.35, 61.39 and 59.87m with no foul throws.

US-based Gowda was nowhere near his personal best of 64.35m achieved in the run-up to the Games.

Only three athletes — Robert Fazekas of Hungary, Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania and Aleksander Tammeret of Estonia — could cross the automatic qualification mark of 64.50m while the remaining nine spots in the final were filled on the basis of the next best throws.

On the formal opening day of athletics, at Olympia’s stadium, veteran of many battles Bahadur Singh had disgraced the country with three consecutive foul throws.

Now doubts are being raised about Singh’s ability as well as the chemical constituents in his food, though top officials denied it flatly. Anil Kumar now steps in to the dubious limelight as well.

Late Friday, Indian women discus throwers Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil had narrowly missed qualifying for the final. Harwant achieved a best distance of 60.82m on her first attempt to finish seventh in her heat and 13th overall. Seema Antil wasn’t too far back, getting a best distance of 60.64m (second attempt) and finishing seventh in group B.

Veteran Neelam J. Singh, of course, flattered to deceive, yet again. Her best here was 60.26m (first attempt), keeping her at ninth place in group B.

Sobha had a good first jump (6.3m), slipped to 6.2m in the second and climbed to her best 6.36m in the third. Kluft’s best was 6.78, though. Soma’s were subdued atempts — 5.83, 5.86 and 5.92m.

Agencies add: Maurice Greene opened his campaign for a second consecutive Olympic 100m gold medal with an untroubled win in his first-round heat on Saturday. Greene’s US teammate Shawn Crawford, the fastest man in the world this year, was the quickest qualifier and looked hugely impressive as he shot to the front before slowing at the end to win in 10.02.

Portugal’s Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu, who defeated Greene at the Paris Golden league meeting last month, won his heat in 10.09. Jamaican Asafa Powell, who beat the American champion in London and Zurich, clocked 10.06.

World champion Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis also advanced to the second of the four rounds, which culminate in Sunday’s final.

Greek Hristoforos Hoidis did not start despite appearing on the start lists. Greek team spokesman George Gakis said Hoidis had been withdrawn from the race several days ago.