54th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships Sushma shocked Tintu while Ashwini triumphed on her return with a new meet mark Lucknow – 6 June 2014 National record-holder Tintu Luka was unbeaten her in pet event – 800m – on the domestic scene for the past five years. However a scorching heat in the Uttar Pradesh capital took its toll as the Kerala runner suffered a rare defeat in the hands of Sushma Devi of Haryana on the second day of senior national athletics championships at PAC Stadium here this evening. Ironically it was the same athlete who pushed Tintu to a second place during the National Grand Prix at Kochi, five years ago! Tintu, who recorded a noteworthy 2:00.56 while finished sixth during last month’s Diamond League at Doha, was wholly burn out to 2:02.85 for the silver medal behind a fully charged Sushma who won the event with a personal best 2:02.05. The 30-year-old Sushma had earlier won the inter-state title in 1500m in 2009. The Athletics Federation of India’s fixed the qualification criteria for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as 2:00.46. Another veteran runner Sini A. Markose, representing Jharkhand, finished third today clocking 2:03.47. Kerala’s Sajeesh Joseph successfully defends the men’s crown in 800m with 1:53.11, the slowest winning time in these championships in 26 years! Teammate Jinson Johnson (1:53.29) and Delhi lad Lalit Mathur (1:53.54) filled the next two places on the podium. Ashwini sparkled over hurdles Karnataka’s reigning Asian Games gold medalist Ashwini Akkunji revealed excellent form as she excelled in 400m hurdles with a new meet record of 57.43 secs that erased Jauna Murmu’s four-year-old mark in three-hundredth of a second. Tamil Nadu’s defending champion Elavarasi finished second in 58.99s as Anu Raghavan of Kerala got the bronze in 59.49 secs. Jithin Paul, representing Jharkhand, took the men’s title clocking 50.41 secs. Kerala’s Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham was third in 51.10s whereas Punjab’s Satinder Singh, who achieved a hat-trick of wins in this event during the last three years, finished a distant fifth with 52.06 secs. The silver medal went to Ramachandren of Maharastra, who timed 50.90s. Fast improving Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand garnered the 200m crown with a personal best 23.72 secs. Asian championship silver medalist Asha Roy (West Bengal) suffered a shocking defeat in 23.75s while another Odisha athlete Srabani Nanda completes the podium in 23.82s. In a similar act Murugaiah Manikanda Raj, representing Andhra Pradesh, won the men’s race in 21.30 secs. Delhi boy Vikas Gulia was close second in 21.31s with the bronze medal went to Tamil Nadu’s Manikanda Arumugam (21.35s). After a shocking exit of ace long jumper Kumaravel Premkumat it has become the duty of another Tamil Nadu jumper Vigneshwar to maintain the tradition of the state with an excellent leap of 7.90m. His first round 7.75m could have enough to win the competition, however after three consecutive foul jumps he made his best on the fifth attempt. Ankit Sharma of Madhya Pradesh (7.66m) and Kerala’s Raja Ommen (7.54m) were the other medalists in this event. Rajasthan’s Daya Ram went one place up to win the grueling decathlon with a remarkable 7,117 points. He was a silver medalist in the last edition at Chennai. TN athlete Thangarasu (6426) and Delhi’s Vikas (6240) had won the silver and bronze medals respectively in an event which missed national record-holder and defending champion Bharatinder Singh. In other events, Punjab’s shot putter Jagreeop Singh (17.75m) and javelin thrower Ravinder Singh (78.02m) as well as national champion Sahana Kumari of Karnataka in high jump (1.89m) had won their respective events. Kerala continued to remain on top of the points table with 60 points while both Tamil Nadu and Haryana were trailing in the second place with 46 points each. -/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /-
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 15:33:24 +0000
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