Vazhipali Suresh Surekha (India) leaps to national record in New Delhi (© Rahul Pawar)
Vazhipali Suresh Surekha regained the national mark for women’s pole vault from Chetna Solani scaling 3.90m braving the afternoon temperature in the first leg of Indian GP circuit meet at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here. Surekha, with roots from Kerala but opting to participate for her domicile state of Tamil Nadu, however failed to accomplish her dream of sailing over 4m on Wednesday (15 Feb).
A 4 metres clearance could have added her name to the Indian squad for this year's Commonwealth Games at Melbourne, as yesterday was the last day for submitting entries. However, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) promised to represent her case to the Indian Olympic Association. Both organisations are headed by IAAF Council Member Suresh Kalmadi.
800m runners Ghamanda Ram and Pinki Pramanik were the other athletes who stole the show yesterday. Ram, the Asian Indoor Games gold medalist at Pattaya, Thailand, last year, could not repeat that feat at last week’s Asian Indoor Championships which were held at the same venue. However, yesterday he was back to form with his season’s best mark of 1:47.16, a third best in his career, to win the men’s event.
Pramanik made her mark by taking the women’s 800m in a respectable time of 2:03.42. Her team-mate Harishankar Roy, on the comeback trail, won the men’s High Jump 2.15m. Roy was a silver medallist in the Asian All-Stars meet held Singapore two years ago with a personal best 2.25m.
Overall the athletes from the Indian Railways team put up a brilliant show by garnering six victories out of 14 events contested.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Results:
Men:
200m: Race-A (0.4): 1. S. Srinivas (Rly) 21.89; 2. Varun Subrawal (Del) 22.02; 3. B. Ramu (Ser) 22.31;
Race-B (-0.2): 1. Sarish Paul (Ser) 22.03; 2. P. Muthusamy (TN) 22.05; 3. Anil Kumar Rohil (Ser) 22.29;
800m: 1. Ghamanda Ram (Ser) 1:47.16; 2. Satnam Singh (Pun) 1:51.57; 3. Daljeet Singh (Tata) 1:52.66;
1500m: 1. Pritam Bind (ONGC) 3:46.48; 2. C. Hamza (Ser) 3:46.55; 3. Ravinder (Del) 3:50.20;
5000m: 1. Santosh Kumar Patel (Rly) 14:43.79; 2. S. Raghunath (Rly) 14:45.09; 3. Ram Bahadur Subba (BSF) 14:47.72;
High Jump: 1. Harishankar Roy (Rly) 2.15; 2. Omveer Singh (Rly) 2.08; 3. Vinod Kumar (Rly) 2.05;
Pole Vault: 1. R. Ranjith (TN) 4.50; 2. Vadivelu (TN) 4.50; 3. Kulwinder Singh (PP) 4.30;
Shot Put: 1. Om Prakash (Har) 17.22; 2. Kuldeep Mann (CISF) 16.85; 3. Saurabh Vij (Del) 16.70;
Hammer Throw: 1. Kulwinder Singh (PP) 64.20; 2. Nirbhay Singh (Navy) 63.39; 3. Naresh Choudhary (Del) 62.73;
Javelin Throw: 1. Anil Kumar (Rly) 72.62; 2. Om Narain (Rly) 72.16; 3. Sunil Goswami (LIC) 69.99;
Women:
200m: Race-A (0.1): 1. H.M. Jyothi (CB) 24.21; 2. Babita Singh (Rly) 24.44; 3. V. Anisha (CRPF) 24.96;
Race-B (2.2): 1. Deepti Jose (Rly) 24.86; 2. K. Mrudula (AP) 26.39; 3. Suman Sajwan (Del) 27.56;
800m: 1. Pinki Pramanik (Rly) 2:03.42; 2. Sutapa Das (Rly) 2:11.96; 3. Tejinder Kaur (Rly) 2:13.62;
1500m: 1. O.P. Jaisha (Rly) 4:20.62; 2. Sinimol Paulose (Tata) 4:21.74; 3. Preeja Sreedharan (Rly) 4:26.79;
Pole Vault: 1. V.S. Surekha (TN) 3.90 [National Record]; 2. Geetanjali Bora (Asm) 3.75; 3. Chetna Solanki (UP) 3.60;
Discus Throw: 1. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 51.24; 2. Krishna Poonia (Raj) 48.57 (only 2 athletes)
