News23 Oct 2009


Indian Senior Inter-State championships – Days 1 and 2

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Tintu Luka winning in Chenai (© Athletics Federation of India)

Whenever there is a big meet around at the Asian or global level Chennai used to play host the national championships to facilitate the selection of Indian Team.  The previous editions of senior Inter-State championships held here in 2000 and 2004, as well as last year’s edition hosted by the Tamil Nadu state at Madurai, were all served as the final trials for the Olympic Games. 

This year’s edition, sponsored by SS Music television channel and commenced on Wednesday (21), received some significance as it will be treated as the final selection meet for Indian aspirants looking for a berth towards next month’s Asian championships at Guangzhou, China (10-14 Nov).

Abraham prepping for Guangzhou

The first day’s action here saw hurdler Joseph G Abraham, an Osaka Worlds semi-finalist, continued his winning streak. Although clocked a modest 49.91 to win the 400m hurdles, Abraham is all set to make a podium finish at the Chinese town which is playing host next year’s Asian Games.   Had there been some ‘push’ from his state-mate Avin Thomas and former national champion Patlavath Shankar, Abraham could have bettered his national best 49.51 clocked at Osaka two years ago. 

The same was the story for distance runner Surendra Singh in the 5000m. As usual Singh ran a tactical race but fell far short of the national mark (13:29.70) standing in the name of Bahadur Prasad for just over 17 years, with no competition of worth from co-runners. Although he had the satisfaction of bettering training partner Kashinath Aswale’s meet mark with his 13:51.31 run, Singh felt the absence of Aswale. 

Kerala women had a medal sweep in the Long Jump. Although the field looked bleak in the absence of Anju Bobby George, there had been a keen contest for the top spot between M A Prajusha and Reshmi Bose.  Finally Prajusha won the event with a 6.36m leap, just one centimetre ahead of Bose.      

In Discus throw, won by Harwant Kaur (58.71), former World junior bronze medalist Seema Antil slipped to THE fourth spot.

Surprises aplenty on second day

The hosts Tamil Nadu opened their gold medal tally on Thursday through its high hurdler Govindaraj Gayathry and sprinter Sathya.   

Gayathry, the double silver medalist from Commonwealth Youth Games at Pune, slowly but steadily graduated to senior level with a career best 13.84 while winning the 100m hurdles from national record-holder Anuradha Biswal.

Sathya’s victory in men’s 100m came as a surprise.  He clocked a personal best 10.50 to win the event over Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, whom hitherto ahead of the Tamil Nadu athlete in other meetings.  “Sathya is a better runner over 200m,” his coach Mohd Riaz revealed after his prodigy’s emphatic victory in the short sprint. 

H M Jyothi, the Bangalore-based sprinter running on Andhra Pradesh colours for quite some time, had clocked her second fastest timing - 11.69 secs - to avenge her defeat from Sharadha Narayana in the open nationals at Bhopal two weeks ago.  Jyothi had an excellent start to finish race and is looking for a double later with the 200m.

As expected Tintu Luka, the half-miler from P.T. Usha’s School of Athletics, was once again In the limelight as she pushed back much more experienced runners to win the 800m on Thursday evening.  Having won her first major senior title at Bhopal, the Kerala girl timed 2:04.10 here in a race which saw the reigning double-gold medallist at the Asian indoor championships, Sinimol Paulose, finished out of the medal bracket. 

In yet another upset, national record-holder Krishna Mohan went down to Sandeep Parmer in the men’s 110m hurdles.

At the end of day two, Kerala leads the medal tally with four gold, three silver and six bronze medals.

Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF

Leading Results:

MEN:
100m (22) [0.0]:
1. S Sathya (TN) 10.50; 2. Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (AP) 10.57; 3. S Arunjith (Ker) 10.58;

800m (22):
1. S Prakash Verma (Jhar) 1:48.07; 2. Satnam Singh (Pun) 1:48.78; 3. Pankaj Dimri (Utk) 1:49.25;

5,000m (21):
1. Surendra Singh (Utk) 13:51.31; 2. Sandeep Karan Singh (Guj) 14:24.95; 3. Sunil Kumar (Har) 14:25.98;

110m hurdles (22) [-0.2]:
1. Sandeep Parmar (Mah) 14.76; 2. K Krishna Mohan (AP) 14.77; 3. K A Harish (Ker) 14.80;

400m hurdles (21):
1. Joseph G Abraham (Ker) 49.91; 2. Avin A Thomas (Ker) 50.63; 3. P Shankar (AP) 51.89;

High Jump (22):
1. Harishankar Roy (Jhar) 2.13; 2. Benedict Starly (TN) 2.13; 3. Jiten Thomas (Mah) 2.06;

Pole Vault (21):
1. K P Bimin (Ker) 4.90; 2. Gajanan Upadhyay (Jhar) 4.70; 3. Bineesh Jacob (Ker) 4.60;

Long Jump (22):
1. Maha Singh (Pun) 7.78/-1.5; 2. Mohd Ibrar (UP) 7.60/2.1; 3. Shamsher Pratap Singh (Pun) 7.59/0.3;

Javelin Throw (22):
1. Kashinath Naik (Karn) 74.71; 2. Om Narain (Har) 73.76; 3. Ramandeep Singh (Pun) 73.65;

Decathon (22):
1. Bhartender Singh (Har) 7115; 2. P J Vinod (Ker) 7024; 3. Chanderhas Kushwaha (UP) 6578;

20,000m Walk (22):
1. Harminder Sngh (Pun) 1:29:44.05; 2. Ashok Kumar Patel (Chat) 1:32:22.53; 3. Maniram Patel (MP) 1:32:37.55;

WOMEN:
100m (22) (-0.6):
1. H M Jyothi (AP) 11.69; 2. Sharadha Narayana (TN) 11.76; 3. Mandeep Kaur (Pun) 12.09;

800m (22):
1. Tintu Luka (Ker) 2:04.10; 2. Sushma (Del) 2:04.31; 3. S R Bindu (Ker) 2:05.91;

5,000m (21):
1. Kavita Raut (Mah) 16:09.61; 2. Jhuma Khatun (Ben) 17:07.84; 3. Babar Lalita (Mah) 17:29.72

100m hurdles (22) (1.2):
1. G Gayathry (TN) 13.84; 2. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 14.18; 3. Poonam Bhojanna (Jhar) 14.31

400m hurdles (21):
1. Harpreet Kaur (Jhar) 1:00.12; 2. E Prathiba (TN) 1:00.57; 3. C Shiji John (Ker) 1:01.00

Long Jump (21):
1. M A Prajusha (Ker) 6.36/0.0; 2. N Reshmi Bose (Ker) 6.35/0.0; 3. A P Shini (Ker) 5.94/0.0
 
Shot Put (22):
1. Saroj Sihag (Del) 14.65; 2. Neelam (Har) 13.94; 3. Steffy Cardozo (Goa) 13.45

Discus Throw (21):
1. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 58.71; 2. Krishna Punia (Raj) 56.53; 3. Saroj Sihag (Del) 53.11
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