Aneesh Joshi wins the 110m Hurdles at Indian Junior Federation Cup (© Ram. Murali Krishnan)
As many as thirteen new meet records, five of them in junior women’s division, were bettered in the three day National Junior Federation Cup Athletics Championships which concluded at Shri Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex here on Thursday (10) evening.
The eleventh edition of the championships was billed as the selection trials for the Indian aspirants looking for a chance to prove their mettle in the Asian junior championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka, next month and the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, 10 - 15 July 2012.
Seventeen athletes in the junior men’s category attained the qualification standards for the World Junior championships in eleven events in this meet.
The athletes from hosts Maharashtra were in the limelight in most of the events. Rahul Kumar Pal, a Havaldar with the Army Sports Institute here, clocked a notable 29:49.80 in 10,000m and 14:16.67 in 5000m - both new meet marks - to earn a place in the Indian team for Barcelona. In both the events he barely missed the national junior records standing in the name of Gojen Singh since 1996.
"He ran solely most of the race. He could have clocked somewhere near 14:05 (in 5000m) and 29:00 (in 10,000m) if there had been anyone to challenge him" revealed S. Pichaiah, three-times national champion and former Asian championship bronze medallist in the 3000m Steeplechase, who is now training the young prodigy in the Army Sports Institute.
Besides Pal, two hurdlers from the state were of particular notice.
On the opening day high hurdler Aneesh Abhay Joshi, a first year Engineering student, clocked 14.05 secs in 110m Hurdles. It was his maiden victory in a national championship. Training under Sanjay Patankar, Joshi came fourth in the National School Games at the same venue last year. His father Abhay Madhukar Joshi was an eminent Kho-Kho player and a recipient of Ekalavya and Shiv Chhatrapathi awards from the Government of Maharashtra and currently taking part in the Masters’ athletic meets with great success at the Asian level. Besides this his younger sister Apoorva is a budding gymnast. The young Joshi could soon be making waves like his state-mate Siddhanth Thingalaya at the area championships.
In the last event of the competition, another Maharashtra hurdler Durgesh Kumar Pal - who won a silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games at Singapore in 2010 and a gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games at Douglas last year - clocked an incredible 51.26 secs to eclipse the four-year-old meet mark (51.94s) which stood in the name of Kerala’s Jithin Paul. "I misjudged the last hurdle and hit it hardly hence lost the rhythm otherwise I could have improved my national junior record" Durgesh told after the event. Durgesh posted his national junior mark of 50.86s at the junior nationals in Ranchi last year.
Durgesh was adjudged as the best male athlete of the meet while the honour went to Bengal’s Priyanka Mondal, who clocked 55.81 secs in 400m flat, in the junior women’s division.
Haryana boys made a clean sweep in 400m run with Sachin Kumar clocked a marvellous 47.59s to gain the Barcelona qualification.
Delhi boy Arjun, the Youth Olympic Games silver medallist in 2010, recorded a personal best 57.57m to win his pet event, the Discus Throw but missed the national and meet mark of 58.10m held by Punjab’s Kripal Singh since the last edition of the meet held in Visakhapatnam, two years ago. "I had two foul throws and could not find my rhythm due to a clumsy weather. I shall certainly cross 60m during the Asian junior championships next month" was his reaction when asked about his performance here."
Navjeet Kaur, the Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist, won the women’s Discus Throw with 44.25m for a "double" in throws. Earlier she had won the Shot Put.
Archana Suseendran from Tamil Nadu, who missed a medal in the 100m on the opening day, fiercely fought to win the 200m from Odisha girl Dutee Chand - the winner of 100m - in a photo-finish (24.96 to 24.97 secs).
Tamil Nadu got another gold medal through triple jumper Raja Sekar who leaped 15.80m for the top spot.
Shalin Patel from Gujarat and Dutee Chand of Odisha were the fastest male and female sprinters of the Junior FedCup with 10.98 and 12.20 clocking.
Asian Indoor bronze medallist Prem Kumar was an easy winner in the Long Jump by leaping to 7.65m.
"The athletes were just arrived after their examinations and skipped their training for several weeks. I am sure more athletes will attain the global standard during next month’s Asian junior championships at Colombo" revealed Rajinder Singh Saini, the chief coach for junior athletes.
In the race for the overall championships Haryana edged Kerala by just one point - 140 to 139 - while the defending champions Tamil Nadu finished seventh this time. Kerala could have easily won the top spot here had there been an athlete from another state taking part in the junior women’s Pole Vault. As in the previous edition the Kerala girls were unchallenged and filled the podium in that event.
The above championship witnessed 2000m Steeplechase being introduced for the first time at the national level for junior women and the inaugural winner was Meenu Nirwal from Uttar Pradesh who clocked 7:53.17.
The championship was inaugurated by Shri. Padmakar Valavi, the Hon’ble Minister of Sports, Government of Maharashtra.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Click here for detailed results
The eleventh edition of the championships was billed as the selection trials for the Indian aspirants looking for a chance to prove their mettle in the Asian junior championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka, next month and the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, 10 - 15 July 2012.
Seventeen athletes in the junior men’s category attained the qualification standards for the World Junior championships in eleven events in this meet.
The athletes from hosts Maharashtra were in the limelight in most of the events. Rahul Kumar Pal, a Havaldar with the Army Sports Institute here, clocked a notable 29:49.80 in 10,000m and 14:16.67 in 5000m - both new meet marks - to earn a place in the Indian team for Barcelona. In both the events he barely missed the national junior records standing in the name of Gojen Singh since 1996.
"He ran solely most of the race. He could have clocked somewhere near 14:05 (in 5000m) and 29:00 (in 10,000m) if there had been anyone to challenge him" revealed S. Pichaiah, three-times national champion and former Asian championship bronze medallist in the 3000m Steeplechase, who is now training the young prodigy in the Army Sports Institute.
Besides Pal, two hurdlers from the state were of particular notice.
On the opening day high hurdler Aneesh Abhay Joshi, a first year Engineering student, clocked 14.05 secs in 110m Hurdles. It was his maiden victory in a national championship. Training under Sanjay Patankar, Joshi came fourth in the National School Games at the same venue last year. His father Abhay Madhukar Joshi was an eminent Kho-Kho player and a recipient of Ekalavya and Shiv Chhatrapathi awards from the Government of Maharashtra and currently taking part in the Masters’ athletic meets with great success at the Asian level. Besides this his younger sister Apoorva is a budding gymnast. The young Joshi could soon be making waves like his state-mate Siddhanth Thingalaya at the area championships.
In the last event of the competition, another Maharashtra hurdler Durgesh Kumar Pal - who won a silver medal in the Youth Olympic Games at Singapore in 2010 and a gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games at Douglas last year - clocked an incredible 51.26 secs to eclipse the four-year-old meet mark (51.94s) which stood in the name of Kerala’s Jithin Paul. "I misjudged the last hurdle and hit it hardly hence lost the rhythm otherwise I could have improved my national junior record" Durgesh told after the event. Durgesh posted his national junior mark of 50.86s at the junior nationals in Ranchi last year.
Durgesh was adjudged as the best male athlete of the meet while the honour went to Bengal’s Priyanka Mondal, who clocked 55.81 secs in 400m flat, in the junior women’s division.
Haryana boys made a clean sweep in 400m run with Sachin Kumar clocked a marvellous 47.59s to gain the Barcelona qualification.
Delhi boy Arjun, the Youth Olympic Games silver medallist in 2010, recorded a personal best 57.57m to win his pet event, the Discus Throw but missed the national and meet mark of 58.10m held by Punjab’s Kripal Singh since the last edition of the meet held in Visakhapatnam, two years ago. "I had two foul throws and could not find my rhythm due to a clumsy weather. I shall certainly cross 60m during the Asian junior championships next month" was his reaction when asked about his performance here."
Navjeet Kaur, the Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist, won the women’s Discus Throw with 44.25m for a "double" in throws. Earlier she had won the Shot Put.
Archana Suseendran from Tamil Nadu, who missed a medal in the 100m on the opening day, fiercely fought to win the 200m from Odisha girl Dutee Chand - the winner of 100m - in a photo-finish (24.96 to 24.97 secs).
Tamil Nadu got another gold medal through triple jumper Raja Sekar who leaped 15.80m for the top spot.
Shalin Patel from Gujarat and Dutee Chand of Odisha were the fastest male and female sprinters of the Junior FedCup with 10.98 and 12.20 clocking.
Asian Indoor bronze medallist Prem Kumar was an easy winner in the Long Jump by leaping to 7.65m.
"The athletes were just arrived after their examinations and skipped their training for several weeks. I am sure more athletes will attain the global standard during next month’s Asian junior championships at Colombo" revealed Rajinder Singh Saini, the chief coach for junior athletes.
In the race for the overall championships Haryana edged Kerala by just one point - 140 to 139 - while the defending champions Tamil Nadu finished seventh this time. Kerala could have easily won the top spot here had there been an athlete from another state taking part in the junior women’s Pole Vault. As in the previous edition the Kerala girls were unchallenged and filled the podium in that event.
The above championship witnessed 2000m Steeplechase being introduced for the first time at the national level for junior women and the inaugural winner was Meenu Nirwal from Uttar Pradesh who clocked 7:53.17.
The championship was inaugurated by Shri. Padmakar Valavi, the Hon’ble Minister of Sports, Government of Maharashtra.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Click here for detailed results
