Anju Bobby George long jumping at the South Asian Champs in Kochi (© Ram. Murali Krishnan)
Scorching weather conditions hampered those aspirants wishing to make the Olympic grade in the South Asian Athletic Championships which have been revived after a decade!
Kochi, the business and sporting capital of Kerala State in Southern India, welcomed the athletes from seven nations who gathered on the newly laid synthetic track at the Maharaja’s College Stadium on March 7 and 8.
George – 6.50m on difficult runway
India’s famous long jumper Anju Bobby George led her country to victory and in that process to a championship success in front of the encouraging home crowd with a 6.50m performance. She could have touched anywhere between 6.70 to 7.00m, but the runway has little ups and downs which caused concern to her and compatriot Mayookha Johny who registered a personal best 6.32m in the recent FedCup at Bhopal. While the experienced George managed the situation, the young Johny finished out of medal bracket. It was indeed the first outdoor meeting for George this season and on home soil after a seven years hiatus!
Besides George, high jumper Sahana Kumari and middle-distance runner Sinimole Paulsoe returned with notable marks. The Indian jumper faced Sri Lanka’s blossoming Priyangika Madumathi. Both scaled identical personal bests of 1.85m with Kumari claiming the gold on count-back. Sahana’s husband B.G. Nagaraj had become the fastest man of the meet by winning the 100m with a modest 10.62.
Paulose and Iqbal adjudged to be the best
Extending her winning-streak, Sinimol Paulose, the double Asian Indoor champion took another middle-distance double winning 800-1500m. Although she could not clock the Olympic qualification timings, she was indeed happy about her performances and eagerly looking forward the Asian Grand Prix series in Thailand and Vietnam to fulfill her Beijing ambitions. She was adjudged as the best female athlete of the championship.
The middle and distance races throw some interesting battle, obviously between the athletes from host nation, as all the winners from 800 to 10,000m improved meet marks among the men’s events and in 1500-5000 for women. However the Indian men had disappointing showa in the throws and jumps, where the athletes either recorded poor marks or finished in minor placings.
The athletes from Pakistan prevailed in field events as Ghulam Shabir Hussain had won the first gold medal of the meet by winning the Hammer Throw in 59.16m. “I was aiming to better our national record, but a slippery circle curtailed my effort,” he confirmed during a post-event briefing.
Inspired by Hussain’s effort, triple jumper Zafar Iqbal out performed his opponent Amarjeet Singh of India, taking the title 16.42 to 16.39m, and thus secured the ‘Best Male Athlete of the Meet’ title. Renjith Maheswary, India’s 17m plus jumper, is currently training in the United States and hence skipped the Kochi meet.
In the Javelin Throw, Muhammed Imran pushed the favourite Kashinath Naik (IND) to second place to claim the third gold for the Islamic nation with a career best throw of 72.91m.
Sprint glory for Sri Lanka
D.D.P. Priyadarshani had a golden double by winning women’s 100-200m with personal best marks of 11.74 and 24.04 secs, offering the promise that the island will continue its sprint glory when Susanthika Jayasinghe retires.
Her teammate Shiwantha Weerasooriya and Prasanna Amarasekara had easy win men’s 200 and 400m events respectively.
Amarasekara, silver medallist in South Asian Games of 2004 and 2006, together with Rohith Pushpakumara ran an exciting race in which India’s junior record-holder Virender Kumar Pankaj claimed a bronze.
India at the top
India topped the medal tally with 24 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals. Sri Lanka (7-9-15) and Pakistan (3-6-5) took the next two spots.
IAAF Council Member and Indian Olympic Association President Mr. Suresh Kalmadi lauded the successful organisation and promised to give all support for the Kerala State to host the National Games next year.
Mr. Maurice Nicholas, Secretary-Treasurer of Asian Athletics Association, also commended the organisers and fervently hoped that Kochi would host many other major athletic meetings in near future.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Results (* denotes new meet records)
Men:
100m (7) [-0.2]:
1. B.G. Nagaraj IND 10.62; 2. Muhammed Imran PAK 10.68; 3. R.D.U. Sanjeewa Surendra SRI 10.71;
200m (8) [+2.1]:
1. Shiwantha Weerasooriya SRI 21.44; 2. Ashan Hasaranga SRI 21.84; 3. Muhammed Imran PAK 21.91;
400m (7):
1. Prasanna Amarasekara SRI 46.47; 2. Rohith Pushpakumara SRI 46.76 PB; 3. Virender Kumar Pankaj IND 47.70;
800m (8):
1. Ramesan Rajeev IND 1:48.43*; 2. Sajeesh Joseph IND 1:49.14; 3. Suresh Abeynayake SRI 1:49.58;
1500m (7):
1. Chatholi Hamza IND 3:44.67*; 2. Ravinder Bharadwaj IND 3:44.84; 3. T.P.K. Mendis SRI 3:46.45 PB;
5000m (7):
1. Surender Singh IND 14:10.77*; 2. Sandeep Batham IND 14:35.06; 3. K.G.R. Saman Kumara SRI 14:46.75;
10000m (8):
1. Santhosh Patel IND 29:41.67*; 2. Soji Mathew IND 29:45.86; 3. Ajith Bandara SRI 30:30.53 PB;
110m Hurdles (7) [-1.2]:
1. Krishna Mohan IND 14.28; 2. Muhammad Sajjad PAK 14.39; 3. P. Muthusamy IND 14.41;
400m Hurdles (8):
1. P. Shankar IND 50.72*; 2. Kuldev Singh IND 51.05; 3. H.P. Yasasiri Ajith SRI 51.49 PB;
High Jump (8):
1. Harishankar Roy IND 2.15*; 2. Nalin Rathnasri Priyantha 2.10; 3. Benedict Starli IND 2.10;
Pole Vault (7):
1. Gajanan Upadhyay IND 4.70; 2. Adnan Anjum PAK 4.60; 3. K.P. Bimin 4.60;
Long Jump (8):
1. Maha Singh IND 7.55/-0.4; 2. Pushpender Singh IND 7.52/+0.1 PB; 3. Muhammad Riaz PAK 7.31/+2.0;
Triple Jump (7):
1. Zafar Iqbal PAK 16.42*/+1.4; 2. Amarjeet Singh IND 16.39/+0.9; 3. Bibu Mathew IND 16.12/-0.3;
Shot Put (7):
1. Satyender Kumar Singh IND 17.71*; 2. Ashraf Ali PAK 17.22; 3. Om Prakash IND 17.22;
Discus Throw (8):
1. Sukhbir Singh IND 52.23; 2. Basharat Ali PAK 51.34; 3. Simranjit Singh IND 49.61;
Hammer Throw (7):
1. Ghulam Shabir Hussain PAK 59.16; 2. Madhu Kumar IND 56.26; 3. Jitender Singh IND 55.61;
Javelin Throw (8):
1. Muhammed Imran PAK 72.91 PB; 2. Kashinath Naik IND 72.73; 3. Muhammed Arfan Hussain PAK 68.71;
4 x 100m Relay (8):
1. India 40.86; 2. Pakistan 41.11; 3. Sri Lanka 41.13;
4 x 400m Relay (8):
1. Sri Lanka 3:08.93*; 2. India 3:10.44; 3. Pakistan 3:24.54;
Women:
100m (7) [-1.7]:
1. D.D.P. Priyadarshani SRI 11.74* PB; 2. Jani Chaturangani de Silva SRI 11.87 PB; 3. H.M. Jyothi IND 12.01;
200m (8) [+0.6] :
1. D.D.P. Priyadarshani SRI 24.04 PB; 2. L.S. Irangani SRI 24.25 PB; 3. Sushmita Singharoy IND 24.40;
400m (7):
1. Mandeep Kaur IND 53.34; 2. Chitra K. Soman IND 53.69; 3. Chandrika Subashini SRI 54.74;
800m (7):
1. Sinimole Paulose IND 2:03.16; 2. Sushma Devi IND 2:05.37; 3. Geethani Rajasekara SRI 2:09.74 PB;
1500m (8):
1. Sinimole Paulose IND 4:16.40*; 2. Sushma Devi IND 4:19.82; 3. D.A. Shanika Samanmali SRI 4:25.33;
5000m (7):
1. Preeja Sreedharan IND 16:08.09*; 2. Kavita Raut IND 16:31.22; 3. Dalugoda A. Inoka SRI 17:33.87;
100m Hurdles (7) [-2.1]:
1. Anuradha Biswal IND 14.10; 2. Poonam Bojanna IND 14.51; 3. B.G.L. Maduwanthi SRI 14.67;
400m Hurdles (8):
1. V. Leelavathi IND 59.35* PB; 2. Harpreet Kaur IND 1:01.11; 3. P.S.M. de Soysa SRI 1:01.51;
High Jump (8):
1. Sahana Kumari IND 1.85 PB; 2. Priyangika Madumathi SRI 1.85 NR; 3. Janitha Kodikara SRI 1.77 PB;
Long Jump (7):
1. Anju Bobby George IND 6.50*/+1.8; 2. N.C.D. Priyadarshani SRI 6.06/+0.6; 3. J.J. Shobha IND 6.04/+1.5;
Shot Put (8):
1. Seema Antil IND 14.34; 2. Nadeeka Muthunayake SRI 13.66; 3. Saroj Sihag IND 13.40;
Discus Throw (7):
1. Seema Antil IND 57.94*; 2. Harwant Kaur IND 57.21; 3. Padma Nandani Wijesundara SRI 42.41;
Javelin Throw (7):
1. Nadeeka Lakmali 51.70; 2. Suman Devi IND 43.09; 3. Gurpreet Kaur IND 42.81;
4 x 100m Relay (8):
1. Sri Lanka 45.95; 2. India 46.67; 3. Pakistan 47.44;
4 x 400m Relay (8):
1. India ‘A’ 3:37.04*; 2. Sri Lanka 3:37.35; 3. Pakistan 3:55.88 (Note: India ‘B’ team finished third with a time of 3:42.84, but PAK awarded bronze medal for championship purpose)
