Asian Grand Prix -II
Rajiv helps India maintain its gold status in the second leg
Chonburi, Thailand – 8 May 2013
India’s Jithin Thomas was lucky to retain his gold medal position in the second leg of Asian Grand Prix series at IPE Chonburi Campus Stadium after having locked in to a battle with three other high jumpers who all scaled the identical height of 2.21m.
The 22-year-old Keralite is having a personal best of 2.22m registered during last year’s Open Nationals at Chennai. Unlike the first leg in Bangkok four days ago, where a mere 2.18m was enough for him to win the event, Jithin had a stiff challenge from others right from the beginning this afternoon. Jin Qi Chao of China, Hiromi Takahari of Japan and Anton Bodnar of Kazakhstan shared the same height of 2.21m with Jithin. But Thomas adjudged winner on a ‘count-back’. However Nikhil Chittarasu, the second entry from India in this event, who managed to win a silver medal in the first-leg could not improve his Bangkok height (2.18m) and thus finished sixth today.
Indian quarter-miler Arokia Rajiv had a convincing win in men’s 400m race. Just two weeks to celebrate his 22nd birthday, the one-lapper from Tamil Nadu improved his personal best to 46.54 secs for today’s victory. Karnataka’s Poovamma added another gold in women’s 400m although her time – 53.57 secs – was slower than her previous effort. The second Indian in the race, Anu Mariam Jose, finished third in 54.86s behind Yuliya Rakhmanova of Kazakhstan who clocked 54.30 for the silver.
India matched its four gold medals status from the first leg when distance runner Nitin Rawat annexed his second gold of the series with a win over 3000m in 8:18.25 and once again made it 1-2 with compatriot Kheta Ram taking the second spot in 8:18.74.
Krishna coated the silver-lining to discus
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia delivered her season’s best 59.43m to win a silver in the women’s discus throw. The title went to Chinese Su Xinyue with a notable 61.67m while her teammate Jian Fengjing was just 2 cm behind Poonia for the bronze medal.
Two Indian athletes, hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya and triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, once again fell short of the expectations. Siddhanth slipped to third place in 110m hurdles (13.90s) where Kuwaiti Abdulaziz Almandeel continued his dominance with a 13.69s clocking for the victory.
Roman Valiyev extends his winning streak in triple jump with 16.69m leap which eventually just 1 cm better than Renjith’s 16.68m today while Arpinder Singh managed to fill the remaining place on the podium with his 16.53m mark.
At the end India had 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals in the second leg of the Asian GP here.
In other events the Chonburi leg witnessed brilliant relay races in both men and women sections. Hong Kong made a world championship qualification as their men clocked a mesmerising 39.17 secs to win over Singapore (39.45) and China (39.79). A guest team from Australia lead by Olympic hurdler Sally Pearson won the women’s race in 44.06 sec but narrowly missed the qualification norm by 0.06 secs.
The final leg of the Asian Grand Prix will be held at Colombo on 12th May.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Asian Grand Prix-2013
Field day for Indian athletes in first leg
Bangkok, Thailand – 4 May 2013
Indian athletes won as much as 4 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals in the first leg of this year’s Asian Grand Prix athletics series held at Thammasat Stadium in the capital of Thailand on Saturday evening.
As expected one-lapper M.R. Poovamma annexed the gold in women’s 400m clocking a noteworthy 52.97 secs. The second Indian on the fray, Anu Mariam Jose, finished third in 53.95s behind Sri Lankan Subashini Rasanayake (53.35s).
In the men’s race Arokia Rajiv, a native of Lalgudi in Tamil Nadu, try to emulate Poovamma but Iran’s World Military Games champion Sajjad Hashemi proved too hard to beat at the end 46.70 to 46.91s. Hashemi holding the Iranian national record at 45.81s whereas Rajiv’s best to date was 46.57s—clocked twice in the Open Nationals at Chennai last year and Federation Cup in Patiala last week.
Indian athletes annexed the high jump titles in both men and women divisions. In men’s event the Indians were 1-2 with Jithin Thomas takes the gold from compatriot Nikhil Chittarasu after the duo scaled an identical 2.18m.
Olympian Sahana Kumari was a lucky winner on the distaff side after sharing the same height (1.86m) with Uzbekistan’s Asian Games silver medallist Nadezhda Dusanova.
India had another 1-2 when distance runners Nitin Rawat and Kheta Ram garnered gold and silver medals in men’s 5000m. A sixth place finish when competed with the elite African runners in the Incheon half-marathon earlier this March and the top-spot after a tight finish during the Federtion Cup in Patiala last month, Nitin Rawat emerged as a leading distance runner in the country. However both Rawat and Kheta Ram need to work further to return their sub-14 performances in the next available opportunity to improve further.
World championship qualification continue to elude two Indian athletes—hurdler Siddhanth Thingalaya and triple jumper Renjith Maheswary. Thingalaya clocked 13.88 secs to finish second in 110m hurdles while Renjith also finished second with a leap of 16.83m—a mere 2 cm short for the “B” grade.
Veteran Roman Valiyev emerged as a winner in triple jump with a grand 17.10m—his second best ever after a phenomenal 17.20m to win his national championship at Almaty last year. Indian Arpinder Singh, who missed the Moscow qualification by a shade-1 cm-during the FedCup, finished a commendable third in 16.74m.
Another veteran who stole the limelight once again was Guzel Khubbieva of Uzbekistan in women’s
100m with a time of 11.77 secs. Khubbieva was a multiple-winner at this event in the Asian GP series of the past.
India’s Mukesh Kumari collected a bronze medal in the women’s javelin throw (50.56m). However Indian athletes had a disappointing show in both men’s shot put and relay events.
China’s Wang Li Ke won the shot put by tossing the iron ball to 18.91m. Indians Om Prakash Singh (17.68m) and Jasdeep Singh (17.50m) finished sixth and seventh respectively.
In the men’s 4x100m relay India finished last in 41.24 secs.
In women’s discus throw, Krishna Poonia barely missed the bronze medal and finished fourth with a throw of 56.31m while the other Indian competitor Navjeet Kaur Dhillon was sixth in 46.96m.
In women’s events, medals sweeps were achieved by athletes from China in discus throw and Kazakhstan in 100m hurdles.
The second leg of the Asian Grand Prix will be held at Chonburi in Thailand on 8 May.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
India sends 22 athletes for this year’s Asian GP series
Delhi – 3 May 2013
The Athletics Federation of India is fielding as much as 16 men and 6 women for this year’s Asian Grand Prix series commencing tomorrow at Bangkok. Thailand’s Chonburi (8 May) and Sri Lankan capital Colombo (12 May) will host the second and third legs of the AGP respectively.
Karnataka’s ace quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma, who won 400m in two of the three-leg series last year, will play a lead role this time as well since she improved her personal best to 52.75 secs less than 10 days ago at the Federation Cup senior athletics championships and narrowly missed the World championships qualifying standard by a mere 4/10th of a second.
Among the men triple jumper Arpinder Singh, who also missed the Moscow qualification by just 1 cm in Patiala, besides promising 110m hurdler Siddanth Thingalaya are the top prospects from the Indian side.
TEAM
MEN:
Shameer Mon (100m, 4x100m Relay); Arokia Rajiv (400m); Nitender Singh Rawat (3000/5000m); Kheta Ram (3000/5000m); Siddanth Thingalaya (100m hurdles, 4x100m Relay); Nikhil Chittarasu (High jump); Jithin C. Thomas (High jump); Arpinder Singh (Triple jump); Renjith Maheswary (Triple jump); Om Prakash Singh (Shot put); Jasdeep Singh Dhillon (Shot put); Davinder Singh (Javelin throw); Vipin Kasana (Javelin throw); M. Vijaya Kumar (4x100m Relay); Ritesh Anand (4x100m Relay); T. Balamurugan (4x100m Relay)
WOMEN:
M.R. Poovamma (400m); Anu Mariam Jose (400m); Sahana Kumari (High jump); Krishna Poonia (Discus throw); Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Discus throw); Mukesh Kumari (Javelin throw)
COACHES:
Anatolii Varda; Evgeniy Shivilli; Ivegen Nikitin; Virender Poonia; C. Thirugnanadurai
MANAGER: R. Sunny Joshua
/ AFI /
17th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships
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ONGC retains overall title, Siddhant and Mayookha completes double Patiala, 26 April 2013 The team from Oil and Natural Gas Commission retained the overall trophy in the 17th Federation Cup senior athletics championships which concluded at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports grounds here this evening with a whooping tally of 177 points. Kerala (113), Tamil Nadu (78), Haryana (71) and Punjab (66) finished in that order behind the leader. Although none of the athletes meet out the World championship qualifying norms in the four-days of competitions at least two women athletes came nearer to it in M.R. Poovamma (52.75 secs) and Asha Roy (23.70s), both having missed the “B” standard in 4/10th of a second in 400 and 200m events respectively. Among the men, the outstanding athletes were long jumper Ankit Sharma (7.91 mtrs) and high hurdler Siddhant Thingalaya (13.84 secs). The “B” qualification marks in these events have been 8.10m and 13.50s. Everyone had high hopes on Siddhant, who sets his first national mark in 110m hurdles at the same venue and went on to improve it to 13.65 secs while competed in the Belgian Nationals at Brussels last year before sustained an injury which prevents his ambition to gain a berth on the team bound for London Olympics. Having won the Australian Nationals at Sydney with a wind-aided 13.72 secs less than two weeks ago and the fastest man title at this meet on the opening day, Siddhant was expected to achieve the World championships qualification here. However he could not materialise it this afternoon, but confident of making it in the coming weeks. Former Asian junior bronze medallist Hemasree Jayabal, a trainee of Nandakumar and LIC employee from Coimbatore, snatched the women’s 100m hurdles gold in a photo-finish from Kerala’s K.V. Sajitha (14.37 to 14.40 secs). Reigning Asian long jump champion Mayookha Johny garnered a second gold in triple jump today with a decent 13.46m leap. Although she did cross 13m in all her six try-outs, Mayookha could not find her rhythm to go beyond 14m for seriously trying to attain the global norms. Same was the case with Olympians Om Prakash Singh in shot put and Krishna Punia in women’s discus throw events. Triple jumper Arpinder Singh and quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma have been adjudged as ‘Best Athletes’ of the meet. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / Sudha Singh improves meet mark in steeplechase |
Patiala, 25 April 2013
Chandrodaya Narayan Singh (21) was successfully defends his title in hammer throw. Although today’s performance was almost 2m lesser when compared to his last year’s performance and meet record of 67.78m, no one nearer the 65.88m mustered by him in ball and chain event on Tuesday evening.
National champion Kamalpreet Singh of ONGC, who registered a season’s best 66.15m while taking a silver medal when toured in United States in the Aggie Open at Davis (California) last month, could manage only 63.98m here for the second place.
Olympian Sudha Singh improved her three-year old meet mark in 3000m steeplechase clocking 10 min 13.83 secs. Wahida Rehman (CRPF) was a distant second in 10:52.43.
Haryana’s Jaiveer retained the men’s title with a time of 8:57.86 after logged in to a battle with Rajasthan steeplechaser Naveen Kumar (8:58.38) in most part of the race. Meet record-holder Ramachandran (8:44.33) of Tamil Nadu is currently nursing an injury and hence could not compete here. “I shall be ready by June for the National Inter-State championships and certainly achieve the Asian and World championship qualifications at Chennai” revealed Ramachandran.
Another Haryana lad Parveen Kumar avenged his defeat to Bineesh Jacob in pole vault from last year. Kumar scaled to 4.80m to win the event while Jacob cleared 10 cm shorter, exactly the opposite of what they did in the previous edition.
Long jumper Ankit Sharma was the third athlete to defend the title on the third day of the championships with a leap of 7.91m. It was the second best this season by an Indian after Kumaravel Premkumar’s 7.95m in Tamil Nadu state meet at Madurai recently.
Punjab’s Satinder Singh (51.00 secs) and R. Elavarasi (60.10s) from Indian Bank had won the 400m hurdles in their respective divisions.
Aided by three Kerala-origin athletes, the women’s sprint relay title went to Chattisgarh in 47.40 secs. The team from Andhra Pradesh edged Tamil Nadu to conquer the men’s title in 41.06 to 41.10 secs.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Despite personal best Poovamma missed global meet qualification
Patiala, 24 April 2013
Machettira Raju Poovamma improved her personal best in 400m run with a splendid timing of 52.75 secs on the second day of Federation Cup senior athletics championships here. Although she defends her title from last year’s meet which was held at the same venue, the 22-year-old woman from Mangalore expressed her disappointment for not making the World championships qualification mark by just 4/10th of a second. Kerala girl Anu Mariam Jose, who pushed Poovamma all the way could manage only 53.88 secs and settled with a silver while her state-mate Anju Thoams garnered the bronze in 55.14s. Poovamma’s previous best was 52.94 secs which she clocked while winning the Asian Grand Prix at Bangkok last year.
Another athlete who successfully defended her title was Poovamma’s ONGC teammate Kushbir Kaur in 20 km walk. Till a junior the meet and national record-holder (1:37:28) had a comfortable win on the familiar course with a time of 1:38:03. Rani Yadav, her nearest rival from Uttar Pradesh, completed the race four minutes after the winner.
Rajiv’s winning spree continues
Unlike the above mentioned successful women, the day witnessed three men fails to retain their gold from 2012, both on tracks. Kunhu Muhammed (400m) and Sajeesh Joseph (800m) finished second in their respective events after giving tough fight to the eventual winners Arokia Rajiv and Manjit Singh. The last one being high jumper Jithin C. Thomas from Kerala, who lost the title to Tamil Nadu’s Nikhil Chittarasu. Jithin could manage to clear only 2.13m today as against his 2.20m in last year. Nikhil sailed over 2.19m this evening for the top spot.
Hails from Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, Arokia Rajiv extends his winning-streak at NSNIS Patiala to three after his back-to-back victories over 400m distance in the Indian Grand Prix earlier this month and equalled his personal best 46.57s, which he first set while winning the National Open championships at Chennai last year. Kunhu Muhammed (46.83) and Bibin Mathew (46.94) collected the remaining medals in that race.
As expected the Pune-based Army Sports Institute’s Dileep Kumar, representing Maharashtra, won the decathlon event garnering 6546 points.
In the absence of any top notch athletes to push her, Mayookha Johny decided to reserve her energy for the triple jump and thus made it easy on the long jump with a modest leap of 6.16m to win the gold.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
The day-1 belongs to distance runners
Patiala, 23 April 2013
The 17th Federation Cup senior athletics championships begun at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports grounds with a high class men’s 5000m race this morning. Uttarakhand’s Nitender Singh pips pre-race favourite Kheta Ram of Rajasthan at the post to win the event in 13 mins 55.28 secs. The Rajasthani was just one-tenth-of-a-second behind for the silver medal, while Mohd. Yunus from Maharashtra and ONGC runner Suresh Kumar were third and fourth clocking 13:55.62 and 13:56.53 respectively. Such a fine race never occurred on Indian soil so often. The top-four finishers running under 14-minutes in a national competition thus showed the intensity of competition and rivalry between these elite athletes. In recent times only Surendra Singh clocked two sub-14 mins timings in 2009 at India prior to today’s race at Inter-State and Open Nationals. The incredible days of Bahadur Prasad before the millennium when he accomplished several such feats is now history! Incidentally Bahadur Prasad’s national record of 13:29.70 set in 1992 and Surendra Singh’s meet mark of 13:51.64 since 2007 remain intact. Surendra Singh is now a qualified coach and in-charge for the country’s women distance runners.
The 27-year-old Asian Games silver medallist Kavita Raut, representing ONGC, was an easy winner over 10000m in 35:30.21. The reigning Asian Games champion Preeja Sreedharan stayed off after her marriage last year and today’s race said to be the last one for Kavita before her wedding! Three other runners from Kavita’s home state Maharashtra, Lalita Babar (35:35.08), Monika Athare (35:44.80) and Manisha Salunkhe (36:05.16), have finished in that order behind the winner.
Siddanth, Merlin fastest athletes of the meet
National 110m hurdles record-holder Siddanth Thingalaya pushed the much fancied Sameer Mon and Manikanda Raj to become the fastest man of the meet with a time of 10.55 secs. Kerala girl Merlin K. Joseph maintained her state’s tradition by taking the women’s title in an excellent 11.75 secs. Srabani Nanda from Odisha was one-hundredth of a second faster than Bengal’s Asha Roy (11.89 to 11.90s) for the second spot.
Kyathi vaulted to new record
It is rare to see a qualified medical practitioner taking part in sports, especially the track and field athletics. Kyathi Vakharia is one such rare person who not only taken part in athletics but also in one of its highly technical events—the pole vault. Having graduated recently no one imagined Kyathi walking towards the high raising bar and measured it with her pole. However she did so in style and cleared a personal best 4 metres, thus become the second woman athlete in the country to scale that magical height. National record-holder V S Surekha from Tamil Nadu and Kerala’s K C Dija completes the podium with an identical height of 3.70m.
With no big guns around the scene, Arjun (Tata Motors) and Mukesh Kumari (Haryana) easily annexed the top positions in men’s discus throw (56.78m) and women’s javelin throw (52.69m). In discus throw national record-holder Vikas Gowda achieved the World championships qualification with a mark of 65.82m in Mesa Classic at the beginning of this month.
Arpinder upsets Renjith in triple jump
In the much awaited contest between Arpinder Singh (ONGC) and Renjith Maheswari (Tamil Nadu), the verdict went in favour of the 20-year-old Arpinder as he leapt 16.84m—just 1 cm shy of the World’s qualification! Olympian Renjith could muster only 16.65m today. Now both Arpinder and Renjith need to try their luck in the Asian Grand Prix series to be held in Thailand and Sri Lanka next month.
Sahana Kumari (1.84m) and Jhuma Khatoon (4:31.01) had won the women’s high jump and 1500m respectively. While Sahana made a cake-walk in her event, Jhuma faced a tough time with experienced Sinimole Paulose (4:31.53) and Pratima Tadu (4:31.60) for her win.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
PREVIEW: 23 athletes returning to defend their title
Patiala, 21 April 2013
The 17th edition of Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships is scheduled to be held at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports grounds here from 23 to 26, this month.
As much as 23 athletes, ten of them are women, are returning to defend their last year’s title at the same venue as per the provisional entry lists available. The Federation Cup will be the first full-fledged competition opportunity available to the Indian aspirants who are wishing to make it to the National Team for the upcoming Asian championships at New Delhi in July and the World championships at Moscow, a month later.
It was in the Federation Cup at the same venue last year Tamil Nadu’s Renjith Maheswary attained Olympic qualification with a leap of 16.85m in triple jump. Although he is eagerly looking forward to another such feat in this year’s competition, the national team selectors are of the opinion that Renjith should maintain a consistency of performances in other meets of this season as well in order to allow him get in the national squad following his disappointing show in London last year.
Siddhanth Thingalaya, who narrowly missed the Olympic qualification in 110m hurdles following an injury sustained in the Belgian nationals at Brussels during last season, is planning to return to his favourite track at NSNIS where he set his first-ever national mark – 13.81 secs – three years ago. In 2012 he clocked 13.69 secs, the fastest by an Indian athlete on home soil and a new meet record in his pet event in the Federation Cup here.
Walker Kushbir Kaur, who sets a national record (1:37:28) in last year’s championship, will be the favourite among the women. Quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma, distance runners Sinimole Paulose and Archana Pal—both having achieved ‘double victories’ in their respective events last year, besides high jumper Sahana Kumari and hammer thrower Manju Bala are all set to retain their pole position from 2012.
Bengal’s multi-event specialist Sushmita Singha Roy, who already had four wins in Federation Cup to her credit, is hoping to extend her winning-streak further.
ONGC and Kerala state, the champions in men and women divisions respectively, are expected to maintain their supremacy this year also.
While high jumper Jithin Thomas remains in the Kerala team, pole-vaulter Bineesh Jacob is switching over to Chattisgarh this time.
Following her wedding, last year’s double gold medallist M.A. Prajusha decided to take a break from the jumping arena. However Olympian Mayookha Johny is promised to keep the show alive with some high octane performance this week.
Two other Olympians, shot putter Om Prakash Singh and discus thrower Krishna Punia, will also hope to improve farther in the four days of competitions which attracts top field from across the country.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Annual General Body Meeting
Annual General Body Meeting – day 2
Delhi, 14 April 2013
The two-day Annual General Body Meeting of the federation has concluded at Hotel Mapple Emerald, Rajokari, New Delhi on Sunday. Following were the key decisions taken during the second day of the above meeting.
Activity reports for the period 2012-13 have been presented by various state units and committees of the federation.
The federation had set-up event-wise monitoring committees with eminent sportspersons of the past as members to monitor various athletics camps taking place across the country on a regular basis.
The house unanimously elected Mr Prasun Mukherjee of West Bengal and Mr Kunwar Fateh Bahadur of Uttar Pradesh as Vice-Presidents on the vacancies arose following the elevation of Mr W.I. Davaram as Senior Vice-President and resignation of Mr Sushil Salwan.
Mr. Ajaib Singh Kaleka of Punjab was co-opted as an Associate Vice-President of the federation.
Dr. Tony Daniel from Kerala has been named as Chairman-Technical Committee, following the election of Mr P.K. Srivatsava as Treasurer earlier.
All the state units were advised to set-up their own websites and to publish their activities regularly for the benefit of the athletes.
In a move to inspire more number of young people taking part in competitive athletics it was decided to incorporate the IAAF Kids athletics programme in India from this year onwards.
The federation has decided to disaffiliate those state units which are failing to conduct their activities and taken part in the national competitions.
Annual General Body Meeting – day 1
Delhi, 13 April 2013
The two-day Annual General Body Meeting of the federation has commenced at Hotel Mapple Emerald, Rajokari, New Delhi on Saturday. Following were the key decisions taken during the opening day of the above meeting.
The main agenda on the opening session on 13th April 2013 of the AGM had been the Election of Office-Bearers, viz., President, Senior Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, which was taken up at 10.30 a.m.
President : Mr Adille J. Sumariwalla (Maharashtra Athletics Association)
Senior Vice-President : Mr W.I. Davaram (Tamil Nadu Athletics Association)
Secretary : Mr C.K. Valson (Tamil Nadu Athletics Association)
Treasurer : Mr P.K. Srivatsava (Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association)
Delhi March 25
The Executive Committee Meeting and Annual General Body Meeting of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will be held on 13th and 14th April 2013 in Hotel Maple, Rajokari, New Delhi at 10.30 A.M.
Apart from the regular agenda, the election for the post of President/Senior Vice President/Hony. Secretary/Treasurer for the term ending 2016 will also be held in this meeting on 13th April 2013. For more information on Annual General Body Meeting click sublinks given below:
/AFI/
Indian Grand Prix
Improved display by Renjith, Om Prakash and Jithin Paul in second leg
Patiala, 6 April 2013
Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary, shot putter Om Praksh and intermediate hurdler Jithin Paul delivered better marks in the second leg of Indian Grand Prix held at NSNIS grounds here on Saturday evening. Renjith trembled on the runway and fouled the first two jumps before recorded 16.36m on his third try-out. His best of the day and of the season came next with a decent 16.78 metres, which was however 7 cm short of the “B” qualification standard for the upcoming World championships in Moscow this August. Two more faulty jumps forced the Railway athlete to wait for another fortnight to try his luck in the Federation Cup slated to be held here later in 23-26 April.
Arpinder Singh, former Asian junior silver medallist who shocked Renjith with a notable victory over the latter in National Games two years ago, also delivered a noteworthy mark when he touched the sand-pit at 16.46m for second place. Navy’s Rakesh Babu was a distant third with 15.89m.
On the shot put arena Olympian Om Praksh Singh Karhana recorded three throws over 18m with the best of series as 18.65m on his sixth and last round. It was almost one and a half metre less than the required norm for Moscow qualification.
Railway’s Jithin Paul has shown a promise to replace his mentor and teammate Joseph Abraham over 400m hurdles. With both Abraham and Satinder Singh, the top-two in the business, could not figure the start-list the focus shifted on Paul and he did not disappoint this time. His winning time of 51.72s was a marked improvement than what he did—52.48—on the first leg of IGP held here on 31 March. Jithin, the winner of inaugural South Asian junior championships at Colombo six years ago, is having the advantage of age and is expected to make fireworks in the Federation Cup later this month.
On the field Devender Singh spearheaded Army’s challenge with his best mark of 76.77m to retain his dominance in javelin throw.
Multi-events specialist and national decathlon record-holder Bharatinder Singh was a surprise winner in men’s 200m dash. However his ambition to make it a double with long jump gold went futile as Air Force’s Arshad Hussain defends the title with a last round leap of 7.56m to Singh’s 7.54m.
Poovamma returned her best on home soil It was a good season opener for Mangalore’s wonderful one-lapper. Representing the team from Oil and Natural Gas Commission, Poovamma clocked an impressive time of 53.59 secs—her best on the home soil while winning the women’s 400m dash. Although she had better performances to her credit they were all achieved during her sojourn at the Asian GP series in Thailand last year. With the country’s main quarter-milers still serving doping suspension and yet to return for mainstream running,the improved display by Poovamma this evening have brought some cheer and open our medal ambitions in the Asian championships this summer.
Arokia Rajiv (400m) and Manjit Singh (800m) in men’s section and Gomathi (800m) on the ladies side have successfully retained their title from the first leg apart from those already mentioned above.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Renjith, Om Prakash commenced season opener with moderate show in first leg
Patiala – 31 March 2013
In what appeared to be a slow beginning, Olympians Renjith Maheswary and Om Prakash Singh Karhana comfortably won their favourite triple jump and shot put events respectively in the first leg of Indian Grand Prix which held at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports grounds here this evening.
Although no one expected to provide the sparkle in the season opener as they preserve their energy for next month’s Federation Cup in the same venue. “The athletes will peak during the Asian championships in July” revealed a senior coach.
Railway’s Renjith, who attained his Olympic qualification in Patiala with a leap of 16.85m here last year, was the only athlete who surpassed the 16m mark today with 16.67m as best of the series. Young Arpinder Singh of Oil and Natural Gas Commission could manage only 15.92m for second place just ahead of U.P. lad Saurabh who logged 15.76 for the bronze. It is time for Renjith to make amends for his “no mark” in London Olympics. Hope he will display improved show in the weeks to come and at least a ‘face-saver’ performance during the Asian championships to erase the bitter memory.
Om Praksh, the basketballer-turned-thrower, who stunned everyone with his massive 20.69m throw recorded in his training base at Szombathely (Hungary) last summer could manage only 18.12m this evening. Like Renjith, the ONGC employee was the only athlete on the throwing arena to cross the 18m mark and that too on only one occasion today. India had a long tradition around the shot put circle at the continental level. We need to wait and see how Karhana progressing towards the July meet.
Railway sprinter Merlin K. Joseph shocked her teammate and pre-race favourite Asha Roy as she pips the latter in women’s 100m. Merlin timed a personal best 11.95 secs as against Roy’s 11.98s for today’s win. A bronze medallist in last year’s Inter-State championships at Hyderabad, Merlin is expected to make headway in the coming weeks.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Delhi, 24 March 2013
Venues for Indian Grand Prix and Federation Cup shifted
The first and second leg of this year’s Indian Grand Prix, originally scheduled at Panchkula (31 Mar) and Ludhiana (6 Apr) respectively, will be held at Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports grounds in Patiala on the aforesaid dates.
In view of the Annual General Body Meeting of the federation on 13 and 14 April, the final leg of the Indian Grand Prix fixed at Delhi on 13th April has been postponed. Fresh date and venue will be intimated later.
The 17th Federation Cup senior athletics championships, slated to be held at Delhi from 23rd to 26th April, also been shifted to NSNIS Patiala. However the competition dates remain unchanged.
/ AFI /
Asian 20km Race Walking championships
Gurmeet finished third in Asian Race Walking championships
Nomi City, Japan - 10 March 2013
India's national champion Gurmeet Singh (27) finished third in the Asian 20km Race Walking championships which held under inclement weather in Japan's Nomi City this morning. The performances of athletes had been heavily affected by rain and cold (5 deg) weather.
Gurmeet, who was a silver medalist here last year, struggled to maintain his pace and finished the distance in 1:21:38, just 10 secs behind China's Li Tianlei (1:21:28). Yusuke Suzuki of Japan won the men's race in 1:18:34. This is the fourth fastest time, second fastest outside India, by Gurmeet.
The host nation's Kumi Otoshi took the women's crown in 1:33:49. Thi Thanh Phuc Nguyen of Vietnam and Korean Yeon Geun Jeon obtained the two other spots on podium with timings of 1:35:26 and 1:35:49 respectively. Indian walker Khushbir Kaur finished fourth in 1:37:32.
In the open category races held along with the above championships, Indians Chandan Singh (1:23:36), Baljinder Singh (1:24:30), Surinder Singh (1:25:30) and Babubhai Panucha (1:26:59) finished 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.
Former national record-holder Deepmala Devi completed the open category for women in 1:44:26.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
IAAF Race Walking Challenge 2013
Irfan finished commendable fifth
Taicang, China – 1 March 2013
Step by Step by Step! That is Kolothum Thodi Irfan’s daily routine in his quest for glory in race walking. Irfan, who celebrated his 23rd birthday hardly three weeks ago, came under the spotlight when he claimed the Federation Cup title last year in Patiala and thus selected to represent India in Race Walking World Cup held in Russia the following month.
Irfan capitalised the opportunity and surprised everyone when he finished 18th at Saransk with world class “A” grade qualification to London Olympics with a notable time of 1:22:09. He made further waves in London as he was seen walking in the leading bunch and among the top five most of the time. At the end he finished a credible 10th with a national record 1:20:21 to his credit.
Ever since he returned from London, Irfan attended a large number of functions organised in his home-state Kerala by various educational institutions to felicitate him and inspired many youngsters to follow competitive sports—especially athletics—with his motivational speech.
Resuming his training in the National Institute of Sports at Patiala recently, he was selected to take part in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Taicang, China. It was the third successive term the competition had been organised here with Chinese walkers expected to dominate the scene. However the heat of the competition was so high that even the reigning Olympic champion Chen Ding withdrew in mid-way in his season opener.
China’s Li Jianbo, a specialist over 50 km and a seventh-placer at London in that distance, clocked 1:18:52 to win the men’s race. He was just three seconds ahead of teammate and London fourth placer Cai Zelin with Australia’s three time Olympic medallist Jared Tallent finished third in 1:20:41.
Irfan once again missed a chance to make the podium but finished a commendable 5th with a second best time of his career to date – 1:20:59 – en route to his preparation towards the World championships in Moscow this August, nine seconds behind another Chinese walker Qi Zhao who finished fourth.
Sun Huanhuan won the women’s race in 1:27:36, while compatriot Lu Xiuzhi finished 22 secs behind. Asian record-holder and Olympic bronze medallist Shenjie Qieyang complete the sweep with 1:28:27.
India’s Gaurav Kumari, having a PB of 1:37:58, finished eleventh in Taicang clocking 1:40:29.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
National Race Walking Championships
National Race Walking Championships (day-2)
Easy wins for Khushbir and Sandeep
Patiala, 15 February 2013
National record-holder Khushbir Kaur made it easy when taking the inaugural race walking national title over 20 km at Netaji Subhas National
Institute of Sports premises here on Friday. The 19-year-old Punjab woman, representing ONGC this time, had earlier set her national mark of 1:37:28 at the same field last year during the Federation Cup. Khushbir could not realize her ambition to improve the above mark today as there was no one to push her. However she clocked a season best 1:38:52, more than four minutes faster than second-placed Gaurav Kumari of Madhya Pradesh (1:43:16). Former national champion Deepmala Devi (Railways) came third in 1:43:55.
In the grueling 50 km walk for men, Haryana’s Sandeep Kumar clocked a personal best 4:02:19. Sandeep’s previous best had been a national record 4:03:45 which he registered while finished 36th during the Race Walking World Cup at Saransk (Russia) last year. Manipur’s S. Damen Singh was almost 10 minutes behind Sandeep for the silver medal (4:12:17) while the bronze went to Manish Singh from
Uttarakhand in a time of 4:13:55.
/ AFI /
National Race Walking Championships (day-1)
Gurmeet, Shanti and Karan walked away with gold
Patiala, 14 February 2013
In yet another way to encourage the budding talent of race walkers in the country, the Athletics Federation of India introduced one more event at the national level this year—the National Race Walking Championships. Thanks to outstanding effort of K.T. Irfan in last year’s Summer Olympics in London, which eventually inspired many to follow the race walking across the country.
Gurmeet Singh from Railways, the silver medalist in last year’s Asian Race Walking championships at Nomi City in Japan, proved his mettle to went ahead with the men’s 20 km title in a time of 1 hr. 21 min and 17 secs.
Uttarakhand’s Chandan Singh (1:23:28) and former national champion Babu Bhai Panocha (1:24:01) filled the remaining places on the podium.
Two youngsters who made their marks at the national scene in recent times—Shanti Kumari and Karan Rathi—clinched the junior titles in their respective divisions.
Punjab’s Shanti led a three member field right from the start to win in 51:32 well ahead of her nearest rival Priyanka (Haryana, 54:58). Madya Pradesh’s Vandana was a distance third in 60:43 in girls’ 10 km event.
Haryana lad Karan Rathi maintained a family tradition in race walking as he romped home with the gold after locked in a battle with U.P. boy Krishna in the boys’ event. Rathi timed 46:06 for his win, just 9 secs ahead of Krishna, while his state-mate Pawan Kumar got the bronze in 47:07.
Although there had been a national level road championships comprising of both running and walking races for quite some time in the past, it was the first time three international walking judges from different nations officiated the inaugural national race walking championships which commenced here this morning. The course at Patiala had been measured by the international course measurer Mr. Murugesan from Malaysia.
/ AFI /
47th National Cross-country Championships
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Services regain men’s title, but UP boys dominated the scene Chapra, Bihar – 2 February 2013 A cool Saturday morning greeted the runners from across the country at the ancient town of Chapra in Bihar. The services team, which finished third last year at Pune, overcome a stiff challenge from rest of the field to emerge victorious in the men’s 12 km race. Railway’s Ritu Ram Saini led most part of the race before allowing the Army lad G. Lakshmanan to surge ahead at the waning moments to win in 34:50.40. As usual the women’s title went to Railway team as a cake-walk and they extended their winning-streak by virtually swept the top six positions in the 8 km race with international O.P. Jaisha did the lead role to complete the distance in 26:35.52. Runners from Uttar Pradesh clinched the junior men’s 8 km race while Bengal girls were lucky to gain the junior women’s 6 km team title from the Kerala. However Maharashtra’s Pooja Varade, fifth at Pune in 2012, breached the tape first in 21:10.93 in the 6K event, about 20 secs ahead of fancied M.D. Thara from Kerala—who recently bettered the Inter-University 10,000m record in Kalyani, West Bengal. U.P. boys Anil Yadav (24:32.80), Virendra Kumar Pal (18:35.90) and Arjun Kumar (9:04.67) claimed the gold in boys’ u-20 (8km), u-18 (6km) and u-16 (3km) age-groups respectively. Their teammate Sudha Pal triumphed in 3 km event for girls’ u-16 division. However the youth girls 4km title went to Punjab’s Jyoti Saini in 14:46.93. Although they have not made it to the podium, hosts Bihar had a credible fourth place in the junior men’s 8 Km. / AFI / |
INDIAN ATHLETICS CALENDAR FOR 2013
New Delhi, 28 January 2013:
This year’s programme will commence with the inaugural National Open Race Walking competition at Patiala on 14 and 15 February, thanks to the outstanding performance of K.T. Irfan in the London Olympics!
The Indian Team for the Asian Race Walking championships (Nomi City, Japan – March 10) is likely to be selected from the above competition.
The three-leg Indian Grand Prix will follow in Panchkula (31 March), Ludhiana (6 April) and Delhi (13 April) followed by the Federation Cup Senior Athletics championships at the National Capital from 23 to 26 April.
India is hosting the third and final leg of this year’s Asian Grand Prix series at Chennai on May 16, after Bangkok (May 8) and Colombo (May 12).
National Youth (u-18) championship is slated to be held in Guntur or Hyderabad on 18 to 20 May, to identify the athletes to be represented the nation at the World Youth Championships (Donetsk, Ukraine – July 10 to 14) and the Asian Youth Games (Nanjing, China – August 16-24).
National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at Chennai (4-7 June) will serve as the “Final Trials” for the Indian aspirants who are looking for a berth in the National Team to the “Asian championships” scheduled at the same venue a month later (3 to 7 July).
For your information, the continental championship is returning to India after a gap of 24 years, since Delhi hosted it in November 1989.
Zonal competitions are allotted to Aligarh (North, 4-6 Aug), Ranchi (East, 17-19 Aug), Chennai (South, 21-23 Aug) and Gujarat (West, 25-27 Aug) before the Inter-Zonal junior athletics championships at Kochi from 22 to 24 September.
Ranchi will be venue for this year’s Open Nationals in September (7-10) while Karnataka once again taking the responsibility of conducting the Junior Nationals during October 15-19 in either Shimoga or Bangalore.
The Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association will be organising the National Inter-District Athletics meet at Allahabad/Lucknow on 3-5 November and West Bengal takes the challenge of conducting the last competition of the season—National Cross-country Championships—at New Jalpaiguri on 22nd December.
/ AFI /
Special General Body Meeting of AFI
Delhi - 23 January 2013 : The Special General Body Meeting of AFI will be held on 27th January 2013 at 12.00 noon to amend the restrictive clause of AFI Constitution to contest election for the post of President and Secretary.
So far, the list of the persons who have confirmed to attend the above meeting is as per the link given bellow:
/AFI/
Ancient town of Chapra hosts National Cross-country Champs
Delhi – 15 January 2013
From a humble beginning in September 1967 at Lucknow, with just 56 competitors in five categories, the National cross-country championships evolved through the years and witnessed large number of participants in recent times with competition in as much as eight categories—four each in male and female sections respectively.
Bihar Athletics Association is entrusted with the organisation of 47th National Cross-country Championships in the ancient town of Chapra and gearing-up for the big event scheduled to be held on February 2, this year.
According to a communiqué received from Mr. Liaquit Ali Khan, BAA Secretary, free boarding and lodging facilities will be provided to all the participants near Rajendra Stadium in Saran—the venue for opening and finishing of the races. The organisers also advised the competitors and team officials coming to the Nationals to carry adequate clothes to manage the cool weather prevailing at Chapra.
The venue is well-connected with road and rail-links from throughout the country. Chapra is the birth place of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of Independent India, and situated about 85 km from Patna—the state capital of Bihar.
/ AFI /
All Affiliated Units of AFI
Delhi 13 December: The letter No. F.No.13-6/2012-SP-III dated 11th December 2012 of Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has already been forwarded to you. The Government has directed that AFI should amend its Constitution Clause XIV (b) (1) which reads as under:
“To seek election for the post of President/Secretary, the person must be an existing member of the Executive Committee of AFI for a complete term of the committee. If the House unanimously agrees to the nomination of an outsider for the above posts, this condition can be waived by the House. (If a member objects then it cannot be waived)”.
To amend the AFI Constitution and delete the Clause XIV (b) (1) a Special General Body Meeting of AFI will be convened shortly to delete / amend the above clause. Your written opinion in the attached format should be sent to AFI Office within seven days from the receipt of this email.
Director, AFI
28th National Junior Athletics Championships
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Kerala recaptures overall championship
Lucknow, 31 October 2012 As many seventeen national records were bettered besides 13 new meet records and one equalled during the five-day National Junior Athletics Championships which concluded at Guru Gobind Singh Sports College grounds here this after-noon. The final day’s competition on Wednesday saw three new national records. Punjab girl Navjeet Kaur Dhillon got a ‘record double’ as she added the shot put gold to her win in discus throw earlier by tossing the newly introduced 3 kg iron ball to a distance of 14.89m. However the day belongs to quarter-miler Anjana Thamke of Maharashtra when the 15-year-old clocked an impressive 54.57 secs to eclipse M.R. Poovamma’s seven year old national and meet record of 55.43s. It may noted that Anjana clocked faster than Anu Raghavan of Kerala, who took the junior women’s title in the same distance with a time of 55.29s, and hence expected to get a fillip in the near future in national squad. Distance runner Rahul Kumar Pal, double gold medallist in this year’s Asian junior championships at Colombo, received tremendous support from local crowd as he represented Uttar Pradesh this time and went on to win his second gold in 10000m with a meet record time of 29:34.54, but barely missed the listed national junior mark of 29:32.68 set by Gojen Singh during the World junior championships at Sydney in 1996. Suresh Kumar’s 28:59.98 in Guangzhou Asiad, two years ago, was the best by an Indian junior. However the Indian federation following a practice of recognising junior records only if created in respective age-group meets. Rahul earlier won the 5000m in a meet record 14:18.28. Another U.P. runner Poonam Singh also had the same distinction of winning “record double” in junior women’s category taking 5000m in a time of 17:22.87 to add her victory in 3000m earlier. Delhi boy Shakti Solanki, holding the national mark in boys u-14 shot put event, established yet another record in u-16 category by heaving the 5 kg shot to 17.89m. The following athletes were adjudged as best athletes in their respective divisions with boys excelled in field events while the girls performed better on track races: Junior Men (u-20): Rajesh Kumar Bind of Uttar Pradesh (Javelin throw) Youth Boys (u-18): Abhishek Singh of Uttar Pradesh (Javelin throw) Boys under-16: Shakti Solanki of Delhi (Shot put) Boys under-14: Saddam Hussain of Haryana (Shot put) Junior Women (u-20): Bebi Sumaya of Karnataka (200m) Youth Girls (u-18): Dutee Chand of Jharkhand (200m) Girls under-16: Anjana Thamke of Maharashtra (400m) Girls under-14: Durga Deore of Maharashtra (600m) Kerala salvaged its pride as champion state by recaptured the overall title with 465 points and pushed last year’s winners Haryana to runners-up position in 422 pts, thanks to the overwhelming support their girl athletes. Haryana however had the satisfaction of taking the boys’ crown ahead of hosts Uttar Pradesh. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / Dileep shattered national decathlon record Lucknow, 30 October 2012 K. Dileep Kumar, representing Andhra Pradesh, became the first Indian junior to tabulate 7000 points in decathlon in the ongoing Junior Nationals at Guru Gobind Singh Sports College grounds here. Dileep, training in the Army Sports Institute at Pune, finished in the all-round competition tallying 7020 points which erased the old mark of 6866 pts held by Brameshwar Nath of Bihar for the last twelve years. The penultimate day’s competition witnessed six new national records. First being U.P. girl Nisha Yadav’s 54.39m in youth girls’ hammer throw in the morning. The previous record-holder, Bhawana from Haryana, finished third today while Himachal Pradesh’s Deepa Kumari claimed the silver. The 2000m steeplechase for girls have been introduced very recently and Kerala girl C.L. Aswathi won the junior women’s event in 7:33.87 while local girl Parul Chaudhary showed her experience to win the event in youth division in a much improved 7:06.49. Tamil Nadu sprinter M.S. Arun takes the 200m dash for boys under-16 grade in a noteworthy 22.30 secs while Dutee Chand claimed the top honours in youth girls with a time of 24.31 secs after established herself the absolute owner of the national with her 24.28s effort in the heats earlier. In between the Tamil Nadu boys team takes the 1000m sprint medley relay in u-16 division with a new national mark of 1:58.99. Kerala had a profitable day today with their athletes secured six gold medals as they regain the lead in championship race with 409 points against arch rivals Haryana (345 pts). / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Navjeet hurled the disc to new national youth record
Lucknow, 29 October 2012
Navjeet Kaur Dhillon is already a popular name among the young athletes around the discus throwing circle. With a bronze medal from last year’s Commonwealth Youth Games already in her kitty, the Punjab girl had no second thought about winning the event and hence set her sights only on the record. There is always a dearth of talent in Punjab in discus throw. Athletes like Neelam J. Singh and Harwant Kaur dominated have dominated the scene for a long time.
When Navjeet stood on the throwing circle at Guru Gobind Singh Sports College on Monday morning she looked at the sprawling arena before her like an astronaut looking at the sky for a space mission. A fine rotation set the momentum for spinning dynamics and the disc ejected from her hands like a flying saucer. Finding its trajectory the disc landed at 49.54m, an awesome improvement to her previous best of 45.27m set in Douglas last year and for a new national youth record. As she graduating to junior division next year, Navjeet is expected to go beyond 50m very sooner like Seema Antil did at that age.
Almost five hours before Navjeet accomplished her mission, local lad Ankit Kumar fought with his neighbourhood Bhgwan S. Rawal from Uttarakhand on the pathway in walking race. Exchanging their lead in every lap, the U.P. boy emerged winner in the 5000m distance in under-16 category clocking
22:17.15 which ceremoniously removed Manipur walker Lokendra Singh’s decade old mark from the books. Rawal, finished yards behind him in 22:19.70, also improved the previous record of 22:48.2 while his teammate Sandeep Bind completes the podium in 22:49.25.
Hosts Uttar Pradesh also had another cheerful moment through Poonam Singh as she erased the meet record in junior women’s 3000m race with a time of 9:58.99. Delhi boy Beant Singh accounted for another meet mark of the day with 1:25.15 clocking for 600m in under-14 division.
Haryana’s Sandeep Kumari retained her crown in junior women’s discus throw with 41.82m. The same was the case with Maharashtra’s Ankita Gosavi in 100m hurdles in under-16 group.
Overnight leaders Kerala slipped to second spot again when defending champions Haryana once again climbed the ladder with 257 points, 11 points ahead of their rivals.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Satish walked his way to national record
Lucknow, 28 October 2012
When Satish Kumar Patel finished fifth in last year’s Junior Nationals at Ranchi no one noticed him curiously. But on Sunday morning Satish proved his mettle in front of his home crowd as he assaulted Vijay Gehlot’s 12-year-old national junior record in 10000m walk. His winning effort was a noteworthy 41:29.85. Three other athletes who finished behind Satish also bettered his U.P. senior Gehlot’s old record of 42:58.0.
Haryana’s National Inter-Zonal champion Neeraj finished second in 41:54.56. Kapil Kumar from Maharashtra and Vinod S. Hugar of Karnataka, the silver and bronze medallists at Ranchi, have finished in sixth and eighth places respectively this morning.
However Haryana had some pleasant time on the field as their under-16 javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra made a giant improvement to the national best in his age-group with a throw recorded to 68,46m. Teammate Mandeep Kumar (66.24m) made it 1-2 for Haryana. U.P. lad Dharmender Kumar Patel held the previous mark of 62.14m since 2007.
In the youth boys’ 10,000m walk defending champion Kuldeep successfully retained his title but clocked only 44:06.28, slower than his meet and national record of 42:58.1 which he timed at Ranchi. In the same age-group Maharashtrian Mandeep Goyat had similar feat as he improved the meet record for 800m run as he pips Delhi boy Lalit Mathur on the post 1:53:02 to 1:53:03.
Other successful title defender was Kerala girl R. Anu in 400m hurdles. Her state-mate Jessy Joseph took the youth girls 800m race but missed Tintu Luka’s meet mark by a whisker.
Team Kerala led the points table at the end of second day with 186 points, closely followed by defending champions Haryana in 177 points.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Javelin throwers set the spear to record distance
Lucknow, 27 October 2012
The opening day of 28th National Junior Athletics Championships virtually belongs to javelin throwers as they dominated the scene at Guru Gobind Singh Sports College grounds here with three national records.
Rajesh Kumar Bind from the host-state Uttar Pradesh proved too good to his opponents as he started with 72.67m on his first try, an effort that could have been enough to fetch him the gold. However he went on further with 74.69m on his second throw before fouled his third attempt. His fourth throw was a massive 80.14m that improved his national junior mark of 74.75m which he established while winning the Junior Federation Cup at Pune earlier this summer and barely outside the senior national mark of 80.72m standing in the name of Anil Kumar Singh since 2008. It is only a matter of time for Bind, the promising junior, to remove Anil’s name from record-books on his next appearance.
Like Bind, Haryana’s Kumari Sharmila and U.P. boy Abhishek also established new marks in javelin throw in the youth girls and boys sections respectively.
Sharmila improved her own national mark in the youth girls’ javelin throw while successfully defends her title from the previous edition of Junior Nationals held in Ranchi. She hurled the newly introduced 500 grams spear to a distance of 47.31m to improve her previous best of 47.09m created when winning the Youth Nationals at Bangalore this July.
Abhishek throw the implement to a new distance of 73.46m.
The opening day also witnessed six meet records being bettered, five of them on track. Rahul Kumar Pal (14:18.28 in 5000m) and Harish Koranga (3:54.35 in 1500m) in junior men and Jeris Jose (10.76 secs in 100m semis) in youth boys section accounted for new records. Among the girls, M.K. Sinju Prakash (3.30m in pole vault) and Kerala 4x400m relay quartet (3:45.87) in junior women and Dutee Chand (11.93s in 100m heats) in youth girls section established new marks.
Tamil Nadu’s B. Karthikeyan defends his 100m title from Ranchi in boys’ under-16 age-group clocking 11.07 secs. Kerala’s Jijin Vijayan (10.82) and
Haryana girl Pinki (12.06) become fastest among junior men and junior women divisions. Tamil Nadu’s Augustine Yesudas extends his winning-streak by taking the youth boys’ crown in 10.87s. Kerala’s Jeris Jose, in spite of his marvellous 10.76s in semi-finals, had beaten to second spot (10.90s) in the final. In the youngest under-14 group, Haryana’s Nuzrat romped home to victory in 11.43 secs.
Dutee Chand, representing Jharkhand here, clinched the youth girls’ sprint title in 11.97 secs while Maharashtra’s Ankita Gosavi (12.58) and Siddhi Hiray (12.81) takes the honour for girls’ u-16 and u-14 categories respectively.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Lucknow, 24 October 2012
Athletics competitions for juniors were conducted at the beginning for a single age-group. Boys and girls under the age of 16 took part along with seniors at the nationals in the late fifties. Initially there had been 14 events for the boys and 10 for girls contested in the composite national meets of those initial years. However the introduction of multiple age-groups and the increased number of junior athletes taken part at the national level have prompted the Athletics Federation of India to introduce a separate Junior Nationals in 1986 at Hissar, Haryana.
The 28th edition of the junior national athletics championships will be held at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, from October 27 to 31 this year. Around 2,500 athletes from across the country are expected to take part in eight age-groups, four for boys and an equal number for the girls. There will be 125 events to be contested in the five day meet at Athletics Stadium, Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow.
Athletes who excelled in the Lucknow meet will be selected for the national junior camps to be held later this year.
/ AFI /
24th National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships
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Mandeep Goyat improved national mark on final day Pune, 24 September 2012 Home advantage brought Maharashtra the champion status as they received overall honours in the three day 24th National Inter-Zone junior athletics championships which concluded at Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex, Belewadi, near here on Monday evening. The hosts collected 429.5 points for the overall title ahead of Haryana, which finished runners-up with 347.5 points. Maharashtra middle-distance star Mandeep Goyat improved his own national record by clocking 1:51.08 to win the Youth Boys’ 800m run. In the Youth Nationals at Bangalore earlier this year he had set his previous national mark of 1:52.66. Another athlete who excelled today was sprinter Dutee Chand representing Jharkhand in youth girls section. Having won at Bangalore with a national youth record of 11.80 secs in 100m she was a hot favourite to win here and she did not disappoint her fans with yet another splendid show, clocking 11.89 secs in the final, with new a meet record. Meet records were set in six more events on the concluding day. Noted among them were 2.11m in high jump by Kerala’s Sreenith Mohan in u-18 boys and 53.86 secs clocking in 400m hurdles in the same age-group by Satish Pasala of Maharashtra. In boys u-16 division U.P. high jumper Yugant Shekar Singh sailed over 1.95m while M.P. walker Shailesh Kumar covered 10,000m distance clocking 45:19.32. In the junior women’s hammer throw event local girl Soniya Shinde set out the ball and chain to 49.79m for a new mark. Tamil Nadu relay quartet R. Chandra Kumar, Jothi Ranjan, S. Jeeva Kumar and S. Dharmalingam erased the meet record in junior men’s 4x400m relay with a time of 3:18.78. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Ankita, Puneet improved national marks
Pune, 23 September 2012
Records fall like nine-pins as the second day of National Inter-Zone junior athletics championships witnessed as much as nine records, two of
them national marks, on Sunday at Balewadi. Although the hosts dominated with six gold medals, the medal distribution was universal as many states from across the country won medals on the penultimate day.
Local favourite Aneesh Abhay Joshi once again dominated on high hurdles and set a meet mark of 14.19 secs while taking the top honours in junior men’s 110m hurdles. Aneesh, who earlier won the Junior Federation Cup at the same venue with a 14.05 secs clocking, however failed in his bid to improve the national record of 13.92s standing in the name of J. Surendhar of Tamil Nadu since 2010. Same was the case with Karnataka’s Meghana Shetty in Youth Girls’ 100m hurdles. Meghana, the winner of JFC in the middle of this year here, went on to better another meeting record in 14.18 secs.
The national records came from relatively young age-groups. In girls u-16 division Ankita Sunil Gosavi from the host state Maharashtra stop the clock at 14.45 secs to eclipse Meghana’s two-year-old mark 14.57s in 100m hurdles. Team-mate Shriya Vilas Kolge (15.29) and Karnataka’s Simona Mascarenhas (15.42) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Haryana’s young Puneet Chauhan shattered the national best in 600m run for boys’ under-14 section with a time of 1:24.54. Three other athletes who finished behind him also bettered the previous record of 1:26.6 stood in the name of Manipur’s S. Ibungo Singh since 1994.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Prem Kumar’s 7.94m leap was highlight of opening day
Pune, 22 September 2012
When Kumaravel Premkumar leapt to 7.94m, national junior record, on the sixth round of Junior Men’s long jump final at Shiv Chattrapathi Sports
Complex here he not only got the gold medal but also conquered the hearts of the entire audience who were fortunate to watch it during the opening day of 24th National Inter-Zone junior athletics championships.The Tamil Nadu athlete, raised in difficult economic background, was lucky enough to receive specialised training in the Chennai-based Prime Sports Academy under the watchful eyes of its founder and coach Mr. Nagaraj. Prem Kumar, the lone medallist in this year’s Asian Indoor championships,proved his performance of 7.92m achieved during the trials at Bangalore before the Hangzhou competition was not a mere fly on the pane.
Prem, who went on to add another bronze medal to his kitty from the Asian junior championships in Colombo, will be a medal prospect for the country at the senior level in the coming years. His maiden senior title came from the National Open championships held at Chennai hardly a week ago.
Apart from the above national mark, as much as seven meet records have been bettered on Saturday although many top athletes from Kerala and some northern Indian states have preferred to save their best for next month’s Junior Nationals at Lucknow.
Of the seven meet marks five eclipsed on the track while the remaining two are from the field. The one lap race saw three records—Haryana’s Nirmala (55.68 secs) in youth girls, host state’s Anjana Dhavlu (56.37s) in u-16 girls division and Nishant Singh from Madhya Pradesh in boys’ u-16 section with a time of 49.94 secs.
Haryana lad Sachin had a big throw with discus in the youth boys group as he hurled the disc to a remarkable 56.62m.
Kerala u-14 girl Gayathry Siva accounted for another field mark by scaling 1.52m in high jump.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
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New Delhi, 16 September 2012 The 24th National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships will be conducted at Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex, Balevadi, Pune, by Maharashtra Athletics Association from September 22 to 24, 2012. As much as 900 athletes are expected to take part in four age-group divisions for boys and girls. The meet is growing bigger and popular when compared to the inaugural edition held at New Delhi in December 1989 where only 65 events have been contested in two age-groups, i.e., senior and junior divisions for boys and girls. The top-two athletes from the competitions held in four Zonal competitions will vie for top honours in Pune. Although representing the Zones, team honours go to leading states in the recent editions of the above championships in order to encourage the state associations to show more interest in the above meet. / AFI / |
National Inter-District Meet venue and date changed
New Delhi, 14 September 2012
The National Inter-District Meet, originally scheduled at Ranchi in November 9 to 11, now will be held at BHEL Sports Complex, Haridwar, from November 3 to 5 this year.
The entries for the above meet should be sent to Athletics Federation of India on or before 15th October. Entries can be sent either by e-mail or by courier to the new office address of the federation./ AFI /
AFI head office moved to a new location
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New Delhi, 14 September 2012 The Head office of Athletics Federation of India moved to a new location within New Delhi. Here is the address and new contact numbers of the federation: Athletics Federation of India WZ-72, Todapur Main Road Dev Prakash Shastri Marg New Delhi – 110 012
Telephone: The E-Mail addresses of the federation remain unchanged: afi@indianathletics.in / indianathletics@gmail.com Kindly make a note of the above changes and make sure to forward all your future correspondence to the above address only. / AFI / |
011 – 25845421 / 25845422 Fax: 011 - 2584542352nd Open National Athletics Championships
Chennai, 13 September 2012
Suriya strikes again while Railways retained team title with huge points
Suriya Loganathan, the petite runner from Pudukottai who representing Indian Railways, strikes it rich as she garnered her second gold in 5,000m race in the morning. As in the opening day, when she pips Asiad gold medallist Preeja Sreedharan in 10000m, Suriya held off the challenge from another railway colleague O.P. Jaisha and LIC’s Monika Athare on the final day of 52nd Open National Athletics Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
Like on the other day, there was a close contest between the trio and Suriya’s strong finish ascertained the medal on yellow metal. Jaisha and Monika took the other two spots on the podium.
In the men’s race Indrajeet Patel could not accomplish his dream of taking the ‘double’ as Asian junior champion Rahul Kumar Pal went away with the gold in 14:14.64, beating Indrajeet at the post. Patel clocked 14:15.12 for silver while the bronze went to Nitinder Singh of Services in 14:16.71.
Tamil Nadu sweeps men’s high hurdles
It was 1-2-3 for the hosts in the men’s 110m hurdles as Arumugam Suresh romped home his second senior national title in 14.21 secs. Suresh earlier won the Inter-State gold at Hyderabad in June with a personal best 13.96s clocking was a diploma holder in mechanical engineering and revealed he is mainly depends on his father and elder brothers to meet his training, travel, etc. “I hope I can get a decent job as now that I proved myself with two back-to-back victories at the national level” he voiced after the event. He had attributed his win to his coach Raghu Pandian, a physical education teacher in Chatrapatti, near Madurai. Hails from Melur, Suresh was identified and groomed at the initial stages by Chennai-based Mohammed Riaz.
J. Surendhar (14.35s) and K. Prem Kumar (14.59s) were the other two athletes who made Tamil Nadu proud by taking the silver and bronze medals respectively.
As expected M.M. Anchu easily won the women’s 100m hurdles in 14.40 secs. Meghana Shetty, the 16-year-old Karnataka girl who represents ONGC here could not repeat her heats timing and hence finished third behind C.T. Raji, who originally hails from Kerala but represented Punjab in this meet.
Kumaravel Premkumar, the only Indian medallist in this year’s Asian Indoor championships at Hangzhou (China), proved his mettle once again by beating the long jump field which include Ankit Sharma and Mohd. Arshad. Premkumar brought the second gold for Tamil Nadu this evening with a giant leap of 7.72m. Ankit pushed Arshad for the silver medal 7.60 to 7.59m.
The men’s 200m dash saw LIC’s Dharambir won the event in a huge margin. He clocked 21.00 secs while the second placed Manikanda Arumugam (Railways) was 0.8 secs behind. “I had a point to prove after I lost my gold medal in Hyderabad unceremoniously” Dharambir explained when asked about the Federation’s disciplinary proceedings against him during the Inter-State meet.
Bebi Sumaya gave Karnataka its second gold by taking the women’s 200m crown in 24.91 secs. Defending champion Asha Roy (Railways) finished third behind LIC’s V. Santhini.
International Tintu Luka comfortably won the women’s 800m in 2:04.69 but her junior in Usha School of Athletics, Jessy Joseph, went in to trouble when ONGC’s Jyoti Rani knocked-down her just few metres to finish. Jessy managed to finish the race in 2:31.41. S.R. Bindu claimed the silver in 2:10.40 while Jyoti Rani, who clocked 2:10.72 since disqualified while Fulan Khatun of Bengal—who originally finished fourth in 2:15.80—since awarded the bronze medal.
In yet another time Sajeesh Joseph overwhelmed Ghamanda Ram in the men’s 800m.
The Indian Railways team’s success run continues as they annexed the overall championship with 327 points. Services team, which finished runners-up with 138 points, however had the satisfaction of taking the men’s team title.
High jumper Jithin C. Thomas (Services) and middle distance runner Tintu Luka (Railways) adjudged best athletes among men and women respectively.
Results:
MEN:
200m: 1. Dharambir (LIC) 21.00 secs, 2. Manikanda Arumugam (Railways) 21.80s, 3. Manikandan (Railways) 22.06s;
800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 1:51.93, 2. Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) 1:52.04, 3. Jinson Johnson (Services) 1:52.40;
5,000m: 1. Rahul Kumar Pal (Services) 14:14.64, 2. Indrajeet Patel (ONGC) 14:15.12, 3. Nitinder Singh (Services) 14:16.71;
110m Hurdles: 1. A. Suresh (Tamil Nadu) 14.21 secs, 2. J. Surendhar (Tamil Nadu) 14.35s, 3. K. Prem Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 14.59s;
Long Jump: 1. K. Premkumar (Tamil Nadu) 7.72m, 2. Ankit Sharma (LIC) 7.60m, 3. M. Arshad (Services) 7.59m;
Javelin Throw: 1. Davinder Singh (Services) 75.09m, 2. Jitender Singh (LIC) 74.57m, 3. Samarjeet Singh (ONGC) 72.85m;
4x100m Relay: 1. Railways (Manikandan, Manikanda Arumugam, P. Muthuswamy, B.G. Nagaraj) 41.36 secs, 2. Services 41.53s, 3. Punjab 41.92s;
4x400m Relay: 1. Services (S.K. Mortaja, Vikas Chandran, Kunhu Muhammed, Arokia Rajiv) 3:09.88, 2. Railways 3:12.47, 3. ONGC 3:14.56;
WOMEN:
200m: 1. Bebi Sumaya (Karnataka) 24.91 secs, 2. V. Santhini (LIC) 24.94s, 3. Asha Roy (Railways) 24.96s;
800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Railways) 2:04.69, 2. S.R. Bindu (Railways) 2:10.40, 3. Fulan Khatun (Bengal) 2:15.80;
5,000m: 1. Suriya Loganathan (Railways) 17:29.94, 2. O.P. Jaisha (Railways) 17:31.13, 3. Monika Athare (LIC) 17:32.87;
100m Hurdles: 1. M.M. Anchu (Railways) 14.40 secs, 2. C.T. Raji (Punjab) 14.58s, 3. Meghana Shetty (ONGC) 14.64s;
4x100m Relay: 1. Railways (Asha Roy, Saradha Narayana, P.K. Priya, Manisha) 46.74 secs, 2. LIC 47.37s, 3. Kerala 47.84s;
4x400m Relay: 1. Police (Saraswati Chand, Papathi, Bhupinder Kaur, Rattandeep Kaur) 3:45.00, 2. Railways 3:47.06, 3. ONGC 3:47.48.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Chennai, 12 September 2012
Jithin Thomas sailed over 2.22m in high jump
On a day when upsets galore, high jumper Jithin C. Thomas took the proceedings to the greater heights as he tried to obliterate the national
record by attempting to clear 2.26m. Although he fails to clear that height in all his three try-outs, he had the satisfaction of setting a meet record in 2.22m. Thomas had won the South Asian military championships at Kathmandu earlier this year. Barring his fifth place in the Asian indoor championships at Hangzhou, China, he was unbeaten in all his competitions throughout the year and is one of most consistent athlete of the year in Indianathletics. Defending champion and national record-holder Harishankar Roy finished second in 2.19m while junior prodigy S. Harshith (ONGC) took the bronze with 2.16m. For information, Jithin was fourth during the last edition of the above championships at Kolkata last year.
Shraddha Ghule jumped to golden double
Shraddha Ghule, former Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist, led the contest in women’s triple jump right from her first try and won the title with a leap of 13.17m by adding it to the long jump gold she won on the opening day. Mereena Joseph of Kerala settled with the silver in 13.07m while the pre-event favourite M.A. Prajusha ended with a bronze. The railway athlete, registered a personal best 13.72m while finished fourth in the Commonwealth Games at Delhi in 2010, could not found her rhythm and fouled four of her six jumps and managed only 12.86m to obtain a place on the podium.
Om Prakash finished third in shot put
Olympian Om Prakash Singh Karhana, who recorded an Indian best 20.69m while training in Hungary earlier this year, was another athlete who fared badly this evening. He started with a paltry 16.16m and tossed the iron ball to 17.41 on his second throw, made three fouls before etched the sand with 17.81m—his best of the day—on fifth round. Jasdeep Singh, representing ONGC and a bronze medallist in the Asian junior championships four years ago, won the event with a personal best 18.14m while Railways’ Satyender Kumar was second with 17.85m.
The women’s pole vault event saw Karnataka’s Khyati S. Vakharia upsets
national and meet record holder V.S. Surekha. Khyati, a medical student from Bangalore, scaled 3.70m for her maiden title in the Open Nationals. Surekha, who won six out of fourteen times the above event was contested in this meet, settled with a silver in 3.65m.
Joseph G. Abraham, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist who narrowly missed the Olympic qualification earlier this year, avenged his defeat to Satender Singh in 400m hurdles. Joseph, who turned 31 yesterday, revealed he had stop training after the Asian All-Star competition in Kazakhstan in June this year. He further added that he will concentrate on 400m flat in the next year before resuming to 400m hurdles in 2014.
Results:
MEN:
3,000m Steeplechase: 1. R. Ramachandran (Services) 8:53.06, 2. Sanjit Luwang (Services) 8:54.32, 3. Sunil Kumar (Haryana) 8:57.88;
400m Hurdles: 1. Joseph G. Abraham (Railways) 50.87 secs, 2. Satender Singh (Railways) 51.06s, 3. C. Binu Aquito (Tamil Nadu) 51.25;
High Jump: 1. Jithin C. Thomas (Services) 2.22m (New Meet Record), 2. Harishankar Roy (Jharkhand) 2.19m, 3. S. Harshith (ONGC) 2.16m;
Shot Put: 1. Jasdeep Singh (ONGC) 18.14m, 2. Satyender Kumar (Railways) 17.85m, 3. Om Prakash Singh Karhana (ONGC) 17.81m;
Hammer Throw: 1. Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 66.28m, 2. Neeraj Kumar (Rajasthan) 62.87m, 3. Md. Aftab Alam (Services) 62.45m;
20 Km Walk: 1. Babubhai Panucha (Services) 1:27:26, 2. Surinder Singh (Punjab) 1:27:37, 3. Chandan Singh (Services) 1:29:01;
WOMEN:
3,000m Steeplechase: 1. Priyanka Singh Patel (Railways) 10:51.66, 2. Kiran Tiwari (Railways) 10:56.96, 3. M.V. Rameswari (Kerala) 11:21.74;
400m Hurdles: 1. Papathi (Police) 1:00.33, 2. C.T. Raji (Punjab) 1:00.81, 3. Anju Rani (ONGC) 1:01.00;
Pole Vault: 1. Khyati S. Vakharia (Karnataka) 3.70m, 2. V.S. Surekha (Railways) 3.65m, 3. K.C. Dija (Kerala) 3.40m;
Triple Jump: 1. Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) 13.17m, 2. Mereena Joseph (Kerala) 13.07m, 3. M.A. Prajusha (Railways) 12.86m;
Hammer Throw: 1. Manju Bala (Railways) 58.46m, 2. Gunjan Singh (Railways) 55.25m, 3. Anitha Abraham (Railways) 53.47m;
Heptathlon: 1. Liksy Joseph (Railways) 4933 points, 2. Niksy Joseph (Railways) 4808 pts, 3. R.A. Manjushree (Karnataka) 4263 pts.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Chennai, 11 September 2012
Railways’ Manikandan and Manisha clinched sprint titles
The second day of the 52nd National Open championships witnessed Railway athletes made clean sweep in three events while the team’s Manikandan (10.60 secs) and Manisha (11.77s) romped home with the tile of fastest man and woman of the meet.
Manisha Dhankar led railways 1-2-3 in 100m while her teammates did similar act in 1500m and High Jump events.
In high jump, Olympian Sahana Kumari improved her one-year-old meet mark by 1 cm when she cleared 1.84m. It was the first meet mark being bettered at the Chennai meet. Sahana, holding the national record with 1.92m, failed in all her three attempts in the next height of 1.88m. “I was down with fever after returning from London. It was my duty to win the event here for my department, which I justified” was her reaction when asked about her performance of the day. “I was happy that my husband Nagaraj got a silver medal in 100m. It was the final competition for us in this season” she further added.
In the women’s metric mile, veteran O.P. Jaisha led the runners in the first three laps. But teammate S.R. Bindu made the move in the waning stages of the race and went on to win the gold in 4:25.58. Defending champion Jaisha finished second in 4:26.90 while Jhuma Khatun (4:29.58) complete the sweep for the railways.
Sajeesh Joseph gave another gold to Railways by successfully defending his title in the men’s race with a time of 3:46.69.
Other successful title defenders include M.R. Poovamma in women’s 400m (53.79 secs) and race walker Khushbir Kaur, both representing ONGC.
Renjith Maheswary, who had a disappointing outing in London Olympics, proved his critics wrong by taking the triple jump with a leap of 16.72m. It was his fifth title in the Open Nationals in his pet event.
Results:
MEN:
100m: 1. Manikandan (Railways) 10.60 secs, 2. B.G. Nagaraj (Railways) 10.70 secs, 3. Debnath Jyoti Shankar (Services) 10.74 secs;
400m: 1. Arokia Rajiv (Services) 46.57 secs, 2. S.K. Mortaja (Services) 47.03 secs, 3. Bibin Mathew (Railways) 47.14;
1500m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 3:46.69, 2. Chatholi Hamza (Services) 3:47.47, 3. Ravindra Rautela (Police) 8:47.74;
Triple Jump: 1. Renjith Maheshwary (Railways) 16.72m, 2. Amarjeet Singh (Railways) 16.03m, 3. Arpinder Singh (ONGC) 15.92m;
Discus Throw: 1. Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 55.34m, 2. Prabhjot Singh (Punjab) 53.50m, 3. Dharam Raj (Services) 52.18m;
Decathlon: 1. Daya Ram (Rajasthan) 6690 points, 2. V.V. Raneesh (Railways) 6630 pts, 3. Dhaneesh Stephan (Railways) 6327 pts;
WOMEN:
100m: 1. Manisha Dhankar (Railways) 11.77 secs, 2. Saradha Narayana (Railways) 12.03 secs, 3. M.M. Anchu (Railways) 12.09;
400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma (ONGC) 53.79 secs, 2. Rattandeep Kaur (Police) 54.52 secs, 3. Anu Mariam Jose (LIC) 55.03 secs;
1500m: 1. S.R. Bindu (Railways) 4:25.58, 2. O.P. Jaisha (Railways) 4:26.90, 3. Jhuma Khatun (Railways) 4:29.58;
High Jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Railways) 1.84m (New Meet Record), 2. N.K. Siji (Railways) 1.73m, 3. Mallika Mondal (Railways) 1.70m;
Shot Put: 1. Pinki Dey (Railways) 12.82m, 2. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 12.75m, 3. J. Saranya (Kerala) 12.73m;
20 Km Walk: 1. Khushbir Kaur (ONGC) 1:44:55, 2. L. Deepmala Devi (Railways) 1:49:26, 3. Shanti Devi (Punjab) 1:52:53.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Chennai, 10 September 2012
Suriya upsets Preeja in 10,000m
The 52nd edition of the National Open championships got off at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.The first event of the day, women’s 10000m, witnessed reigning Asian Games champion Preeja Sreedharan being pushed to second spot by her Railway teammate Suriya Loganathan. Preeja did the front running in the initial stages of the race before letting Monika Athare from Life Insurance Corporation of India to take charge for a few laps. Preeja did regain the lead when the race entered the final phase. However, the gritty Suriya powered in the last 200m to win the race in a personal best 35 minutes 18.2 secs. Preeja, the national record holder and defending champion, managed only the second spot in a close 35:19.4 while Monika finished third in 35:25.5. The 22-year-old Suriya, hails from Pudukottai and working in Southern Railways, had already won the Inter-Railway title at Bhopal two weeks ago. Kavita Raut, the training-partner of Preeja, could not finish the race.
The men’s race was won by Inderjeet of Oil and Natural Gas Commission in a time of 29:42.76 in yet another closely contested race. Services runner Kheta Ram, like in the last edition at Kolkata, have retained the second spot (29:44.00) while defending champion Suresh Kumar of ONGC finished third in 29:44.73.
With defending champions Mayookha Johny and Harwant Kaur did not take part, the women’s long jump and discus throw events have become an open affair.
Former Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) took the title in long jump with a personal best 6.36m while
LIC’s Delphin Rani was a shade away in 6.32m for the silver.
In discus throw, Railway’s Pramila went one place up from her last year’s effort as she snatched the gold hurled the disc to 49.08m. Similarly Uttar Pradesh’s Annu Rani, who was third last year, emerged champion in women’s javelin throw by setting out the spear to a distance of 49.58m and in that process beaten the defending champion S. Saraswathy of Railways to second place.
Results:
MEN:
10,000m: 1. Inderjeet (ONGC) 29:42.76; 2. Kheta Ram (Services) 29:44.00; 3. Suresh Kumar (ONGC) 29:44.73;
Pole Vault: 1. K.P. Bimin (Railways) 4.95; 2. Bineesh Jacob (Gujarat) 4.70; 3. Parveen (Haryana) 4.70;
WOMEN:
10,000m: 1. L. Suriya (Railways) 35:18.2; 2. Preeja Sreedharan (Railways) 35:19.4; 3. Monika Athare (LIC) 35:25.5;
Long Jump: 1. Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) 6.36m; 2. S. Delphin Rani (LIC) 6.32m; 3. Susan K. Joy (Railways) 5.99m;
Discus Throw: 1. Pramila (Railways) 49.08m; 2. Praveen Kumari (Rajasthan) 47.05m; 3. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 46.45m;
Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 49.58; 2. S. Saraswathy (Railways) 48.66; 3. Aarti Maurya (Uttar Pradesh) 46.48.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Delhi 4th September:
Chennai, an important sporting centre in the southern part of the country, is hosting the 52nd edition of the National Open athletics championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium from 10 to 13 September 2012.
First held at Delhi in 1963, the Open Nationals is returning to Chennai for the fifth time in its fifty-year-old history! Chennai hosted the above championship first in 1972, thereafter in 1989, 1994 and 2001.
The post-olympic nationals will have the traditional rivals Railways and Services teams besides the newly emerging ONGC to battle for the top-spot. The Railway team is the defending champions while ONGC pushed Services to third spot to become runners-up in the last edition at Kolkata. In a significant move, the Athletics Federation of India is introducing “qualification rounds” for men’s field events in order to cope-up with the huge number of entries in the Chennai meet. The Olympic model qualification rounds will ensure athletes to deliver their ‘best’ in the finals.
Olympic Games 2012
Day-10: Marathon runner Yadav fails to live-up as the Games conclude on Sunday
London, 12 August 2012
Ram Singh Yadav ran a fast first 5 km but could not keep up the pace thereafter. The men’s marathon, last event of the Games’ athletics programme, witnessed Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich provided a stunner by taking the gold from fancied Kenyans Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang. The 23-year-old Kiprotich gave Uganda its first-ever gold medal in marathon in Olympics. Running only his fourth marathon in career, it was a big leap for Kiprotich on the global arena after his ninth place finish in Daegu Worlds last year. He timed 2:08:01 for the gold, Kirui finished 26 seconds later for silver and Kipsang in 2:09:37 completed the podium.
Yadav failed in his ambition to better Shivnath Singh’s national mark as well as Olympic placing since he completed the race as only a 78th man with a time of 2:30:06. Of the 105 lined-up at the start, 85 runners finished the race.
Good show by Indian athletes
Although there were no medals from athletics to India, our athletes had a better outing in London as two of our discus throwers—Krishna Poonia and Vikas Gowda—made it to the finals in their respective divisions, a first in throwing events for the nation.
Outside the top-8, race walker K.T. Irfan produced a national record when he finished a credible 10th in the 20 km walk while teammate Basanta Bahadur Rana also had similar feat, notwithstanding his lower placing in the heavy 50 km race.
Further 800m runner Tintu Luka returned a season best timing in her sixth place finish in semi-finals.
In other words the only black-spot in athletics remain with triple jumper Renjith Maheswary’s triple-foul in the qualifying rounds, a repeat from last year’s world championships in Daegu.
India did well in other sports, despite upsets in archery and hockey, and finished with six individual medals—including 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Wrestler Sushil Kumar completes the Indian tally with a silver medal this after-noon and thus become the first Indian to win two individual medals at the Olympics. Earlier he won a bronze medal in Beijing, four years ago.
With this the quadrangular sporting extravaganza comes to a close at London with many defining moments to remember forever. So we have to wait until ‘Rio de Janeiro’ organise another mega show in 2016 for our dream of realising an athletics medal in the Olympic Games!
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-9: Rana clocked first sub-4 hour mark in 50 km walk
London, 11 August 2012
Basant Bahadur Rana became the first race walker from India to cover the gruelling 50 km distance within 4 hours. Serving in Indian Army, the 28-year-old athlete from Chamkipur was in tail at the early stages of the event this morning. However as the race progressed as much as dozen walkers either dropped midway or disqualified for violating the rules. Rana thus placed 36th among 51 finishers with a time of 3 hrs. 56 minutes and 48 seconds to improve his previous national record of 4:02:13 which he achieved during the Race Walking World Cup at Saransk, Russia, in May this year.
It was Rana’s third national record in this event, the first being 4:10:42 he clocked at Patiala in 2008.
Although we have appreciation for Rana’s improved show in London, one could not overlook the fact that he was 20 minutes behind the winner Sergey Kirdyapkin, who timed an Olympic Record 3:35:59 for the gold. It was Russia’s first win in this event at Olympic Games since 1992. In Barcelona, Andrey Perlov won the event as a member of the Unified Team!
Australian Jared Tallent (3:36:53) and China’s Si Tianfeng (3:37:16) delivered personal best timings for the silver and bronze medals respectively. With five men under 3:38 and three other under 3:40, it was one of the best races witnessed in this event in Olympic history.
Bolt anchored Jamaicans to World Record
The high-calibre performance delivered by Jamaican team last night in men’s 4x100m relay once again made us to believe that they are super-humans! In what is appeared as a fitting finale to the athletics competitions at the main stadium in Stratford, the TEAM BOLT evolved their own world record to a new high of 36.84 secs. The quartet of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt lived-up to everyone’s expectations and beyond, thus held-off the challenge by an equally great United States team which equalled the previous world mark of 37.04 for taking the silver. Behind the Americans were another team from Caribbean islands – Trinidad & Tobago – for bronze in 38.12s.
The last time the world record occurred in both men’s and women’s 4x100m relay forty years ago at Munich Olympics!
Earlier T&T got its first-ever title in men’s javelin throw, thanks to Keshorn Wakott, with a nation record 84.58m which was just 7 cm farther than second-placed Oleksandr Pyatnytsya of Ukraine.
Mo Farah made a strong finish in 5000m to complete a distance-double and the noise went sky-high as the British fans celebrated the moment with utmost joy.
It was a most profitable day for Russia as its athletes garnered four gold medals. Following Kirdyapkin’s 50 km, Elena Lashmanova took the women’s 20 km title in a world record 1:25:02 with teammate Olga Kaniskina finished runner-up seven seconds behind. Anna Chicherova went up to 2.05m for high jump gold. Later, Mariya Savinova overpowered a strong field to win the women’800m in 1:56.19.
The US women complete a ‘relay double’ by taking the 4x400m in a season best 3:16.87. At the end of penultimate day of athletics competitions, the Unites States is leading the medal tally with 9 gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze medals which boost its overall tally of 44-29-29.
The men’s marathon race slated for Sunday, wherein India’s Ram Singh Yadav will take part, starting at 11:00 a.m. (IST 3:30 p.m.)
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-8: US women sprint relay quartet sets World Record!
London, 10 August 2012
In yet another marvellous evening the United States relay quartet comprising Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter erased one of the oldest records from the books when they clocked a stunning 40.82 secs to win the gold in women’s 4x100m relay.
The US women erased the previous world record of 41.37s held by a team from erstwhile East Germany since October 1985 with a huge margin of 0.55 secs.
Jamaican squad of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price, Sherone Simpson, veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart took the silver in a national record 41.41 as also the team from Ukraine which went home with the bronze clocking 42.04s.
But in a shocking upset, the US men’s 4x400m relay went down to Bahamas for the top spot. Both the teams engaged in a battle in the previous day’s heats with Bahamas finished first a shade away from Americans with an identical 2:58.87. However on Friday night they put-up a much improved display by taking the gold with a new national best 2:56.72. US men settled with silver (2:57.05) while Trinidad and Tobago filled the podium with 2:59.40.
New Relay Festival panned
The Bahamas’ impressive show prompted the world body to create a new competition called the “IAAF World Relays” with the first edition taking place in Nassau, Bahamas, in May 2014 and 2015.
This new two day competition will bring together the world’s best athletes, with a schedule that includes the traditional 4x100m and 4x400m events but also 4x200m, 4x800m and 4x1500m. It is expected that the World Relays will be used to qualify some teams for the World Championships and Olympics.
As expected Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie won the pole vault with an Olympic record 5.97m while Russian hammer thrower Tatyana Lysenko accounted for another mark with 78.18m. In an epic 5000m for women, Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar claimed the title (15:04.25) from Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot (15:04.73) and country-mate Tirunesh Dibaba (15:05.15).
India’s Basanta Bahadur Rana is taking part in men’s 50 km walk on Saturday. In other expected action for tomorrow, the teams from Jamaica and United States will battle it again in the men’s 4x100m relay. Women’s high jump and 20 km walk will be other attractions for the week-end.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-7: Sahana, Tintu fails to qualify for finals
London, 9 August 2012
Tintu Luka was drawn on a toughest semi-final heat this evening. The line-up includes Caster Semenya of South Africa, who as a junior stunned the world with the global title in Berlin five years ago, and Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya—the silver medallist at Beijing Olympics.
Drawn on lane three, Tintu started well but could not cope up with the pace set by the Kenyan runner who recorded a fast lap first in 57.36 secs. Semenya overtook Tintu and the leader thereafter. The Indian started fading away after 600m and finished sixth in her race in 1:59.69, her second fastest time ever after the national record 1:59.17 which she clocked in the Continental Cup at Split, two years ago.
Semenya was the fastest winner with 1:57.67 while Jepkosgei who finished third also through to final as a fastest loser in her 1:58.26 along with fourth placed Alysia Montano of United States in 1:58.42. Russian Elena Arzhakova’s final kick put her second in 1:58.13. The other two heats were won by Pamela Jelimo (1:59.42) and Mariya Savinova (1:58.57). Tintu could have made it provided she figured in one of those other two heats!
Earlier in the morning, high jumper Sahana Kumari disappointed the Indian fans with her early exit. After sailing over 1.80m on her first attempt, Sahana failed at all three chances, when the bar raised to 1.85m, that marked eventually her ouster from the field. Among other jumpers only Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekistan cleared the automatic qualifying mark of 1.96m while others moved to final with their previous height of 1.93m. At home, Sahana set a national record 1.92m to qualify for Olympics during the Inter-State championships held at Hyderabad earlier this year.
Rudisha’s WORLD RECORD in 800m
David Lekuta Rudisha created history tonight as he became the first athlete to set a World Record in the London Olympics of 2012. The reigning world champion and world record-holder justified his billing as a great athlete in middle distance running as he stunned a near capacity 80,000 fans who were assembled to witness his mind-blowing performance on Thursday night. As he covered fast 400m (49.28) and 600m (1:14.30) everyone understood his ambitions to set a global mark here and he realised it in 1:40.91, clipping 0.2 secs from his previous mark.
Botswana’s Nijel Amos took the silver (1:41.73) while another Kenyan Timothy Kitum joined the celebrations with his bronze medal in 1:42.53. What a race! It saw a never before fast timings for almost all finalists with Rudisha went under 1:41, two runners clocked sub-1:42, five others dipped under 1:43 and the final one ran below 1:44, incredible indeed.
A battery of former Olympic champions, including LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe and IAAF council member Alberto Juantorena, witnessed the great race this evening. Lord Coe exchanged his pleasure with the IAAF President Lamine Diack immediately after the event which could have reminded him of his heydays.
LIGHTNING STRIKES AGAIN
Superstar Usain Bolt, nick-named the lightning Bolt, does it again! With his incredible run Bolt successfully defends yet another title from Beijing as he mesmerised the audience with his stupendous 19.32 secs clocking to win the 200m dash. Teammates Yohan Blake (19.44) and Warren Weir (19.84) joined the celebrations as the trio made it a sweep for Jamaica! United States’ Wallace Spearmon made a gallant effort to catch the Jamaicans on the home-straight but only to manage a fourth place in 19.90s. Dutchman Churandy Martina, who was expected to give a threat to the top guns, was fifth in 20 secs.
After tonight’s double, Bolt is all set to conquer the sprint relay gold in the coming days to stamp his class for one more time on the Olympic arena. A joyous Bolt & Co cheerfully posed for photographers. At one occasion the top man grabbed a camera from his media-friend and started clicking the pictures of those men who recorded his images millions of time in the past four years!
The American medal tally inflated again with 1-2 finish in triple jump by Christian Taylor (17.81) and Will Claye (17.62). World record-holder Ashton Eaton and teammate Trey Hardee did similar act in decathlon. At the end of day United States went-up in the medal tally, thanks to its track and field athletes!
Friday’s action to watch:
There are no events in which Indian athletes taking part tomorrow. However the evening-only session features six finals including men’s pole vault, 4x400m relay and women’s sprint relay.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-6: Tintu Luka moved to semi-finals
London, 8 August 2012
Tintu Luka ran a well-judged race in the morning’s 800m heats while advancing towards tomorrow’s semi-finals. Unlike her previous appearances in international competitions wherein she used to do a lead role, Tintu played a second-fiddle all the way this morning and when the pace increased at the 600m mark she was trying to remain with the leader Alice Schmidt of United States. However she could finish only third behind the American as World champion Mariya Savinova of Russia overtakes both the athletes for the front-position in 2:01.56.
Tintu clocked 2:01.75, just one-tenth of a second slower than Schmidt. South African Caster Semenya finished second in the first heat while Kenyan favourites Pamela Jelimo and Janeth Jepkosgei won their respective heats. The top-3 finishers of the heats and six fastest losers qualified for the semis.
The men’s 110m hurdles semi-finals went on without any trouble. Defending champion and world-record holder Dayron Robles clocked a season best 13.10 secs to win the third race of semis. However the focus turned on America’s world leader Aries Merritt who clocked a noteworthy 12.94 secs in the previous, which happens to be the fastest time in semis in the Olympics history!
World bronze medallist Natalya Antyukh pips Lashinda Demus of United States at the post to collect her maiden Olympic gold in women’s 400m hurdles. The 31-year-old Russian was a bronze medallist in 400m flat at Athens eight year ago. She clocked a personal best 52.70 secs for today’s victory.
After two unsuccessful attempts in Athens and Beijing Olympics, Allyson Felix finally made it! The American sprinted to glory in 21.88 secs for 200m. Jamaican 100m winner Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the silver ahead of Carmelita Jeter of USA.
The men’s 110m hurdles FINAL saw a biggest upset as defending champion Robles developed a hamstring pull and thus abandoned the race in the early stages of the race. World leader Aries Merritt clocked a personal best 12.92 to win the gold, but barely missed Liu Xiang’s Olympic record by a whisker!
Thursday’s action to watch:
From the Indian side, Tintu Luka competes in semi-finals of women’s 800m and Sahana Kumari to feature in the high jump qualifying round. The most attractive among other events will be men’s 200m Finals wherein Usain Bolt going to create a history! Other finals include men’s 800m, triple jump and decathlon as also women’s javelin throw.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-5: Vikas finished credible eighth while Renjith repeats triple-fault
London, 7 August 2012
Vikas Gowda, on his third Olympics appearance, finished among the top finalists in men’s discus throw. He was on sixth position after the first round with a throw of 64.79m. However the US-based athlete could not go beyond it in his subsequent five rounds and slipped to eighth place in the end.
Germany’s two times world champion Robert Harting went home with the gold by hurling the disc to 68.27m while Ehsan Hadadi, the Asian champion who led the event until fifth round, settled with silver in 68.18m. Estonian Gerd Kanter posted a season’s best 68.03 for bronze.
Renjith disappoints with all-foul
Commonwealth bronze medallist Renjith Maheshwary repeated his all-foul show from last year’s World championships in Daegu. It was very disappointed to see the national record-holder crack the plasticine each time in all his three jumps in the morning’s qualification round.
In the Olympic Games, Indian medal-hope Mohinder Singh Gill did a similar act by fails to qualify for the finals at Munich in 1972.
The London triple jump arena also witnessed the home-favourite and Beijing silver medallist Phillips Idowu fails to qualify for final.
In other events, Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov sailed over 2.38 for the top spot in the podium while Australian Sally Pearson finally accomplished her Olympic dream by taking the women’s 100m hurdles in a thrilling passion with an Olympic record 12.35 secs. Beijing victor Dawn Harper was two-hundredth of a second behind for silver.
Former Olympic and world champion Liu Xiang of China had a second shocking exit at the Olympics as he hit hard the first hurdle and had a fatal fall that ended his ambitions for a come-back.
Wednesday’s action to watch:
From the Indian side, Tintu Luka competes in 800m heats tomorrow. The finals of women’s long jump, 200m, 400m hurdles and men’s 110m hurdles will take place tomorrow.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-3 & 4: Vikas Gowda entered men’s discus throw final
London, 6 August 2012
Discus thrower Vikas Gowda today became the first Indian male athlete to enter a final of the Olympic Games in field events. He made the automatic qualification to tomorrow’s final with his second round throw of 65.20m. Earlier he opened the fray with 63.52m. Asian champion Ehsan Hadadi from Iran was the only other athlete to gain the auto qualification with just one throw to 65.19m. Inspired by his teammate Krishna Poonia’s seventh-place finish the previous evening in the women’s event, Vikas is all set to achieve a higher place tomorrow.
In the women’s pole vault, world record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva ended in third place. American Jennifer Suhr won the gold from Yarisley Silva of Cuba on count-back after both the athletes scaled an identical 4.75m. In yet another set-back world champion Valerie Adams suffered a shock-defeat in the hands of Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus.
World champion Kirani James clinched the 400m title clocking a national record 43.94 secs. For the first time in Olympics history no American athlete featured in the above race!
Earlier on Sunday night, Jamaican world-record holder and defending champion Usain Bolt pushed aside pre-race gossips as he went on to win the 100m with an Olympic record 9.63 secs. Teammate Yohan Blake, the reigning world champion who beat Bolt twice in the Jamaican Olympic trials, clocked 9.75 for silver. US sprinter Justin Gatlin takes away the bronze in 9.79s.
Tuesday’s action to watch:
Apart from Gowda in men’s discus throw finals, triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary will feature in the triple jump qualifying rounds tomorrow. Men’s high jump and women’s 100m hurdles finals are other notable events to watch on Tuesday.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-2: Krishna Poonia finished seventh in discus final
London, 4 August 2012
One of the nation’s medal-prospects in Olympics, discus thrower Krishna Poonia, finished seventh in the Final this evening. In an event which witnessed defending champion Stephanie Brown-Trafton went down to eighth place, the recent European champion Sandra Perkovic hog the limelight as she emerged victorious with a throw of 69.11m.
Krishna opened her campaign with 62.42m and improved it to 63.62m on the fifth round. However it was only sufficient to place her among the Top-8 and an Olympic podium was still beyond the reach of the Indian woman. Australia’s former world champion Dani Samuels, who gave a miss to Commonwealth Games two years ago but challenged Krishna thereafter, could managed only a paltry 60.40m and finished twelfth and last in the final today.
Russia’s Darya Pishchalnikova (67.56) pushed China’s world champion Li Yanfeng (67.22) for the silver.
Irfan finished 10th with a NR in 20 Km walk
Everyone surprised when three of our athletes attained the Olympic Games “A” standard in 20 Km race walking. There was even some talk about an Indian winning a medal at London in this event. Although we know such hype was far from the reality, one of our walkers certainly gave some anxious moment to his compatriots in London today.
Started in an unusual evening session, the race was led in it is initial stages by Japanese Suzuki. However walkers from China, a strong nation in this event in recent years, emerged in front position at the 5 km mark and remain there in the rest of the race.
Kolothum Thodi Irfan, the 22-year-old Army man from India and a native of Areekode in Malappuram district of Kerala state, pulled a surprised when he stay with the leading pack and threatened the rest of the field when he was in fifth position at 8 km mark. Irfan however trailed afterwards and switched from 9th to 12th position in between before finishing in a commendable 10th place at the end clocking 1:20:21, a new national record.
Ding Chen of China went on to win the race in an Olympic record time of 1:18:46.
The other two Indians on the fray, Gurmeet Singh (1:23:34) and Baljinder Singh (1:25:39) finished 33rd and 43rd respectively.
Earlier in the morning, Sudha Singh finished 13th in her heats of women’s 3000m steeplechase by clocking 9:48.86.
British fans had a weekend party with three of their athletes, heptathlete Jessica Ennis, long jumper Greg Ruthorfod and distance runner Mo Farah clinched gold medals on Saturday night.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran an amazing race to win the women’s 100m in 10.75 secs from American favourite Carmelita Jeter (10.78) and her Jamaican teammate Veronica Campbell Brown (10.81).
Sunday’s action to watch
Although there will be no Indian in action tomorrow (5 Aug), the day will see six finals starting with women’s marathon in the morning and finishing with men’s 100m in the night as notable among them.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Day-1: Krishna Poonia cruises in to discus throw finals
London, 3 August 2012
The athletics events in the London Olympics witnessed an unprecedented full-house on the opening morning session on Friday.
"It was wonderful to arrive at the Olympic Games this morning and see a totally packed stadium for the first session of athletics. I do not remember the last time this happened and it shows the great affection Britain has for our sport. LOCOG has done a great job and we are excited about the rest of the athletics programme, since the athletes will definitely be inspired by crowds like this”. These words by no less a person than the IAAF President Lamine Diack, will remain as a testimony for the success of the London Olympics forever.
Krishna Poonia – the first Indian finalist in discus throw
Commonwealth champion Krishna Poonia become the first Indian to qualify for the women’s discus throw final when she hurled the disc to 63.54m on her second round in today’s qualifier. Poonia gave some anxious moment when she had foul on the first round. The criteria for entering the final will be 63m or the best-12 performers. Now that she achieved the “automatic qualification” we shall expect a better show from the Rajasthani in the Final. Harwant Kaur’s 13th place in the qualification round of 2004 edition of the Olympic Games in Athens was the previous high for Indians in this event earlier.
Leading the Group-A qualifiers is Beijing silver medalist Yarelys Barrios of Cuba with 65.94m. Russian Darya Pishchalnikova (65.02), reigning World champion Li Yanfeng of China (64.48) and former world champ Dani Samuels from Australia (63.97) are the other athletes who achieved the automatic qualification in Krishna’s group and advanced to tomorrow’s finals.
In Group-B, the other Indian Seema Antil also had a foul on her first attempt but touched 61.10m on the second try. She went on to reach 61.91m on her last but missed the final as a 13th placer. Defending Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton was lucky to make it with her last round 64.89m. German Nadine Muller (65.89) and Croatian Sandra Perkovic (65.74) have comfortably sailed in to final with their first round throws.
Om Prakash, Mayookha fails to qualify for finals
Earlier in the morning session we had men's shot put and women's triple jump qualifiers. In which India’s Om Prakash Singh finished 19th overall with a 19.86m toss, while Mayookha Johny jumped 13.77m to finish 22nd among the athletes who took part in their respective events and hence both of them could not qualify for the finals.
Drawn in group-B, Om Prakash started with a moderate 19.40m and went on to put the shot to 19.86 on his next try. However he fouled his third and last throw that decided his fate. Five athletes achieved the pre-set qualifying norm of 20.65m with American Reese Hoffa leading the men to the evening’s final with a 21.36m put. Hoffa was seventh in Beijing-2008 and having a PB of 22.43m set in London five years ago.
Similarly our woman triple jumper Mayookha Johny also competed in group-B and landed the pit at 13.77m on her first attempt. However she could not go beyond it in her further try-outs as they measured to 13.68 and 13.62m only. Four jumpers went farther than the pre-event marker which stood at 14.40m. In group-A, Jamaican Kimberly Williams (14.53) and British woman Yamile Aldama (14.45) made it with their first jumps and Colombia’s Caterine Ibarquen (14.42) had it in her second attempt in group-B. Daegu world championship silver medallist and Asian record-holder Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan had a shaky start in the beginning as she fouled her first attempt and recorded just 13.99m on the second. However the experienced Kazakh, who finished 15th in the Beijing qualifier, leaped to brilliant 14.79m on her last jump to enter the Olympic finals here.
Tomasz Majewski of Poland became the first athletics gold medallist of the London Games with a season’s best toss of 21.89m ahead of German David Storl who missed it in 3 cm. Reese Hoffa of United States got the bronze medal in 21.23m.
In the women’s 10000m race Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba successfully defended her title in 30:20.75. After allowing a Japanese trio to lead the race in the first 9 laps, Dibaba and her compatriot Kidane moved ahead along with Kenyans Kipyego and Vivian Cheruiyot. Kidane did a pace-maker’s job till the runners approached the 9 km mark then faded away. Dibaba pulled away from the Kenyans and ran a brilliant 62 secs final lap to conquer the gold. Kipyego (30:26.37) and Cheruiyot (30:30.44) claimed silver and bronze medals while Kidane finished fourth in 30:39.38.
Saturday’s action to watch
Tomorrow (4 Aug) morning we have women’s 3000m steeplechase in which Sudha Singh is taking part, thereafter in the after-noon’s 20 Km Walk Final three of our men will race, and of course the women’s discus throw Final would saw Krishna Poonia challenging world’s elite for top honours. The other finals for Saturday include men’s long jump and 10000m run and women’s 100m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
London Olympics 2012
SPECTACULOR OPENING
The Olympic Games returned to London, the British capital, for the third time in its history on Friday, the 27th July 2012. Earlier London hosted the Olympics in 1908 and 1948. This year’s Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth-II in a ceremony blended with humour. If a scenic helicopter ride of the Queen from Buckingham Palace to Olympic Park, escorted by British movie hero James Bond, and parachuted in to the main stadium moved the entire 80,000 spectators in to their seat-edge, the dreaming Mr. Bean trying to live-up with the heroes of “Chariots of Fire” took everyone to the bay-side comedy. The ceremony evolves British life, industrial revolution and modern technology as film-maker Danny Boyle designed it a memorable one besides the customary March Past of 205 participating teams.
The first week’s proceedings in London Olympics witnessed mixed fortune for participating nations. In the hunt for medal last edition’s leader China continue to stay atop with four other nations from Asia figured among the Top-10 to date. America’s legendary swimmer Michael Phelps, nicknamed Baltimore Bullet, entered history as he clinched his 19th medal here. He now has the records for Most Medals (19), More Gold Medals (15) and More Gold at one edition (8) in the Olympic Games. The Games also had its sad side of tale as eight players from the World’s top three Badminton playing nations—China, Korea and Indonesia—have been expelled from the Games following a scandal involved throwing of their matches, a scenario never occurred in the past.
INDIA @ LONDON
As for as India is concerned, shooter Gagan Narang helped the nation to figure on the medals table with his bronze medal after defending champion Abhinav Bindra fails to make it to the final in the Royal Artillery Barracks. While the archers, including the World No.1 Deepika Kumari shoved away in swirl winds, the hockey players, weight-lifters and the Judoka Garima Chaudhary also fails to gain higher places in their respective arena. However, at the time of writing these lines, our Boxers and Badminton stars Kashyap and Saina Nehwal entered quarter finals and keep the Indian hopes alive.
ATHLETICS
The Athletics, mother of all sports, is set to commence on August 3 and everyone—be it an athlete or coach or a mere fan—is keen to watch the 10 days of spectre and spectacles on Olympic Park as well as on the roads of London which hosts the Marathon and Race Walking.
A record number of 200 national teams sending 2236 athletes, comprising 1163 men and 1073 women, to London Olympics. Once again our sport athletics takes a lion’s share in the total number of competitors (around 8000). Four nations—Aruba, Bhutan, Luxembourg and Nauru—are not taking part in athletics. However two athletes, Liemarvin Bonevacia in 400m and Guor Marial in Marathon, are taking part under the Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA) flag.
Although a false start sent him out from the Daegue Worlds 100m and a double-blow which he suffered in the hands of training-partner Yohan Blake at the Jamaican Olympic Trials last month, world-record holder and defending champion Usain Bolt remain confident of winning both the sprints (100/200) besides the 4x100m relay in London. Along with Blake and the American elite Tyson Gay, Bolt is all set to conquer the World once again with yet another marvellous show.
In spite of the Jamaican Wall, the U.S. pinned their confidence on their track and field athletes to take them high on the board above the mighty Chinese who emerged as a sporting power-house since Beijing-2008. High hurdler Liu Xiang, who disappointed his fans four years ago when his country hosted the Games, is eager to make amends in London.
14 INDIAN ATHLETES IN LONDON
Fourteen Indian athletes achieved Olympic qualification standards—half of them with “A” grade—and arrived at London with high hopes. Six of the fourteen qualifiers are women athletes. Leading the Indian challenge on athletics arena are Vikas Gowda in men’s discus throw and his counterparts Krishna Poonia and Seema Antil in the same event on the women’s side. Although we sent a bigger team to past editions of the Olympic Games, it is the first time we field a large number of athletes taking part in individual events ever since the qualification standards are come in to effect from Sydney-2000.
Here is the list of Indian athletes taking part in London-2012 with their personal best marks:
MEN
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Vikas Gowda – Discus Throw – 66.28m (2012)
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Om Prakash Singh – Shot Put – 20.69m (2012)
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Gurmeet Singh – 20 Km Walk – 1:20:35 (2011)
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Baljinder Singh – 20 Km Walk – 1:22:12 (2012)
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K.T. Irfan – 20 Km Walk – 1:22:09 (2012)
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Ram Singh Yadav – Marathon – 2:16:59 (2012)
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Renjith Maheswary – Triple Jump – 17.07m (2010)
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Basant Bahadur Rana – 50 Km Walk – 4:02:13 (2012)
WOMEN
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Krishna Poonia – Discus Throw – 64.76m (2012)
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Seema Antil – Discus Throw – 64.84m (2004)
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Mayookha Johny – Triple Jump – 14.11m (2011)
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Tintu Luka – 800m Run – 1:59.17 (2010)
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Sudha Singh – Steeplechase – 9:47.70 (2012)
-
Sahana Kumari – High Jump – 1.92m (2012)
The athletics events of the London Olympics will take off on 3rd August with three of our Indian athletes taking part on the opening day. Shot putter Om Prakash Singh Karhana will be the first athlete to enter the field as the qualification round for the above event is scheduled as the first on the cards at 10:00 a.m. London time (3:30 p.m. IST). He needs to put the iron ball to 20.65m in order to qualify for final—a tough task indeed. The women’s triple jump qualifier that follows 25 minutes later will have Mayookha Johny with an even tougher 14.40m yardstick to achieve. Discus throwers Krishna Poonia and Seema Antil have to throw 63m or above in order to qualify in the after-noon session that day. The opening day will also see two finals—men’s shot put and women’s 10000m run.
For the first time in the Olympic history India fields four race walkers—three in 20 km and one in 50 km distance. Although the three 20 km walkers achieved the elite “A” standard, their timings are 3-4 minutes behind that of the World’s best. So they need to put some extra effort in order to finish among the Top-8. Ranjit Singh’s 18th place finish in 1980 at Moscow Olympics remains the best for India in 20 km while Zora Singh have the creditable 8th place at 1960 in Rome for the 50 km event. The race walking is a complicated event whereas it is difficult to determine whether an athlete is actually walks or run during the competition. Here is a guide which explain you about the race walking—
http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Document/06/61/22/66122_PDF_English.pdf
ATHLETICS TIME-TABLE
MEN:
100m – prelim 4 Aug; semis/Final 5 Aug
200m – heats 7 Aug; semis 8 Aug; Final 9 Aug
400m – heats 4 Aug; semis 5 Aug; Final 6 Aug
800m – heats 6 Aug; semis 7 Aug; Final 9 Aug
1500m – heats 3 Aug; semis 5 Aug; Final 7 Aug
5000m – heats 8 Aug; Final 11 Aug
10000m – 4 Aug
Marathon – 12 Aug
Steeplechase – heats 3 Aug; Final 5 Aug
110m Hurdles – heats 7 Aug; semis/Final 8 Aug
400m Hurdles – heats 3 Aug; semis 4 Aug; Final 6 Aug
High Jump – qualification 5 Aug; Final 7 Aug
Pole Vault – qualification 8 Aug; Final 10 Aug
Long Jump – qualification 3 Aug; Final 4 Aug
Triple Jump – qualification 7 Aug; Final 9 Aug
Shot Put – qualification/Final 3 Aug
Discus Throw – qualification 6 Aug; Final 7 Aug
Hammer Throw – qualification 3 Aug; Final 5 Aug
Javelin Throw – qualification 8 Aug; Final 11 Aug
Decathlon – 8/9 Aug
20 Km Walk – 4 Aug
50 Km Walk – 11 Aug
4x100m Relay – heats 10 Aug; Final 11 Aug
4x400m Relay – heats 9 Aug; Final 10 Aug
WOMEN:
100m – prelim 3 Aug; semis/Final 4 Aug
200m – heats 6 Aug; semis 7 Aug; Final 8 Aug
400m – heats 3 Aug; semis 4 Aug; Final 5 Aug
800m – heats 8 Aug; semis 9 Aug; Final 11 Aug
1500m – heats 6 Aug; semis 8 Aug; Final 10 Aug
5000m – heats 7 Aug; Final 10 Aug
10000m – 3 Aug
Marathon – 5 Aug
Steeplechase – heats 4 Aug; Final 6 Aug
100m Hurdles – heats 6 Aug; semis/Final 7 Aug
400m Hurdles – heats 5 Aug; semis 6 Aug; Final 8 Aug
High Jump – qualification 9 Aug; Final 11 Aug
Pole Vault – qualification 4 Aug; Final 6 Aug
Long Jump – qualification 7 Aug; Final 8 Aug
Triple Jump – qualification 3 Aug; Final 5 Aug
Shot Put – qualification/Final 6 Aug
Discus Throw – qualification 3 Aug; Final 4 Aug
Hammer Throw – qualification 8 Aug; Final 10 Aug
Javelin Throw – qualification 7 Aug; Final 9 Aug
Heptathlon – 3/4 Aug
20 Km Walk – 11 Aug
4x100m Relay – heats 9 Aug; Final 10 Aug
4x400m Relay – heats 10 Aug; Final 11 Aug
WRITE TO US
Readers, please feel free to share your views on Olympics and Athletics. Please mail your comments and suggestions to editor@indianathletics.in
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Revised dates for North and East Zone junior athletics championships
New Delhi, 31 July 2012
The dates for North and East zone junior athletics championships have been re-fixed due to various reasons.
The North Zone meet at Meerut is since pre-poned and now be held from August 4 to 6, instead of 5 to 7 as stated earlier.
The violence in North Eastern sector prompted the postponement of East Zone meet scheduled at Guwahati to September 1 to 3 from its previous dates of August 2 to 4.
Kindly note the change of dates in your diary and proceed to the above venues accordingly.
/ AFI /
9th National Youth Athletics Championships
Mandeep, Jessy defends title with record performances
Bangalore, 15 July 2012
Two athletes delivered eye-catching performances while retained their titles from last year’s championship in 800m. Maharashtra half-miler Mandeep Goyat ran a well calculated race to win the boys’ event clocking 1:52.66, a time that erased the meet and national mark of 1:53.08 by Uttaranchal’s Pankaj Dimri from the record books. It was indeed a big improvement for Mandeep from his last year’s show in Ranchi where he timed 1:58.46 for the gold. The Maharashtrian led the race right from the beginning. Delhi boy Arjun Khokhar (1:55.54) and Punjab’s Gurjant Singh (1:56.05) came second and third respectively.
The girls’ race also witnessed another champion from Ranchi, Jessy Joseph, to successfully defend her title with a meet record 2:10.72. Jessy,
another prodigy of P.T. Usha, proved too good to the rest of the field as she did front running throughout the race to remove Bengal athlete Jhuma Khatun’s meet mark of 2:11.30 from the lists. Like Mandeep, Jessy also showed a marked improvement from her last year’s performance as her previous title came with a time of 2:15.85. Haryana girl Nirmala (2:17.23) and Karnataka’s K.A. Archana (2:23.68) claimed silver and bronze medals in the above race.
Orissa’s Ashman Sahu easily won the triple jump for boys with a commendable 15m leap while the girls’ event witnessed a sea-saw battle and eventually won by Kerala’s Jenimol Joy with a last round 12.42m from unheralded Bhairabi Roy of West Bengal who till that point led the event with her 12.35m second round mark. TN jumper M.A. Siva Anbarasi, retained the bronze position from Ranchi by registered a personal best 12.19m.
Earlier in the morning Karan Rathi helped the Haryana tradition alive in the race walking as he extends the state’s winning-streak in the boys’ 10K in a modest 49:48.70. U.P. girl Priyanka took the 5K title in 27:16.25.
Kerala avenged her defeat to Haryana in the championship race last year as they took all the three trophies in offing—for boys, girls and overall. Although they had a comfortable margin in girls division, the champion state pushed Haryana to runner-up position with a mere half-point in the boys’ section.
Bengal sprinter Dutee Chand, who had a sprint double and a national youth record in 100m, adjusted best athlete among girls while the honour went to Maharashtra’s 400m hurdler Satish Pasala in the boys.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Karnataka hurdlers hold the sway
Bangalore, 14 July 2012
Young Meghana Shetty, the 16-year-old Mount Carmel College pre-university student and the flag-bearer of the hosts Karnataka, lived up to everyone’s expectations as she outclassed rest of the field to win the girls’ 100m hurdles in a new meet record time of 14.06 secs. Kerala hurdler T.S. Arya (14.81s) and Tamil Nadu athlete Dhanalakshmi Bhaskaran (15.03s) have filled the next two places on the podium. Meghana, who won the gold in Junior Federation Cup in Pune this May and earned a bronze medal in the Senior Nationals at Hyderabad last month, however missed the national youth record of 14.02s standing in the name of Tamil Nadu’s Gayathri Govindarajan since 2008. Her coach V.R. Beedu commented Meghana is a good prospect to win a medal at the continental level in future.
Minutes after, Fakeerappa V. Bangi brought another gold for Karnataka as he takes the boys’ 110m hurdles in 14.51s. His teammate C. Shivakumar (14.91s) got a bronze medal behind Jharkhand’s Rahul Kumar Mishra (14.63s), who finished second.
The hosts also earned a third gold through high jumper Jesse Sandesh who cleared 2.04m for the top spot in the boys’ section. Favourite Sreenith Mohan of Kerala could not go above 2.02m and settled for the silver while Ajay Kumar from Haryana was a bronze medallist with a height of 2.00m.
Dutee Chand completes sprint double
Orissa girl Dutee Chand, who yesterday posted a national mark in 100m, secured a double by winning the 200m dash on Saturday evening equalling state-mate Ranjitha Mahanta’s national record of 24.49 secs. As like yesterday, Bengal sprinters Ruma Sarkar (25.12s) and Himashree Roy (25.13s) filled the victory podium with Chand.
Madhya Pradesh got the first gold of the day in front of their state secretary Mumtaz Khan as their sprinter Ramanand finished upfront in the boys’ race clocking a modest 22.08 secs. Punjab’s Kamberdeep Singh was a distant-second in 22.31s.
Defending champions Haryana state begin their quest as they start winning more medals today. Two of their champion athletes from the last edition of the championship in Ranchi successfully defend their titles. Discus thrower Sachin was the first one to do so with a throw measured to 56.67m while Kumari Sharmila retained her crown in javelin throw by hurled the newly introduced 500 grams spear to a distance of 47.09m. The state gained one more gold medal through Manisha in girls’ discus throw event.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Dutee Chand posts national mark, Augustine missed it by a whisker in 100m
Bangalore, 13 July 2012
Although there is no major youth championships at Asian or global level this year, the first day’s competition at Sree Kanteerava Stadium was highly intensive in both on track and field.
Orissa sprinter Dutee Chand continued her state’s tradition by taking the 100m title for girls with a time of 11.85 secs. Earlier in the heats she posted a new national record of 11.80 secs this morning that erased the previous national and meet mark of 12.08s held by her state-mate Ranjita Mahanta in 2010. Interestingly Ranjita’s mark also created in the heats two years ago in Coimbatore. Bengal girls Himashree Roy (12.13) and Ruma Sarkar (12.15) claimed silverand bronze medals respectively.
In the boys division Tamil Nadu’s Augustine Yesudas clocked an impressive 10.79 secs for the gold but barely missed the national record by one-hundredth of a second. The national record (10.78s) is standing in the name of Krishnakumar Rane since 2005. Jeris Jose (10.90s) of Kerala and Husan Deep Singh (10.92s) of Punjab finished second and third in the boys’ race.
On the field, Nayana James delivered a grand display in long jump. The Kerala girl opened the fray with a giant leap of 5.94m that was enough for the top spot. She lost her rhythm thereafter and produced only another notable 5.60m on her fifth try between the fouls. However her best mark of the day (5.94m) eclipsed the meet mark of 5.87m held by local girl G.M. Aishwarya since 2010. Nayana’s teammate Jenimol Joy went home with a silver in 5.76m while Praneeta Pradeep from host state took the bronze 2 cm behind.
Rain played spoilsport when the boys’ long jump event was in progress during the evening and that marred another record performance as thecompetition was highly intense in the said event. Athletes from across the country, including those from far away states like Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur and Mizoram, are taking part in the three day meet.
The meet was inaugurated by Shri M.K. Baladeva Krishna, I.A.S., Director of Youth Services and Sports, Karnataka State in the presence of AFI President Shri. Adille Sumariwala and Secretary Shri C.K. Valson.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
9th National Youth Championships
Bangalore, 5 July 2012
The National Youth athletics championships was introduced by the Athletics Federation of India for the first time in 2004 at Jamshedpur keeping in mind the development of youth athletics movement throughout the World.
Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore has already hosted the above championships twice, 2005 and 2007, and going to conduct it again for the third time from 13th to 15th this month. In order to encourage more number of athletes to take advantage and participate in the above meet, the AFI fixed the cut-off-date for competitors as July 15. It means all the athletes who are aged 18 years or under on the competition dates are eligible to take part in Youth Nationals. However boys and girls who are aged under-16 years could not take part in the championships.
As much as 20 events for boys and an equal number of events for girls will be conducted in the three-day meet. Significantly the new IAAF rule changes concerning the throwing implements for girls, i.e. 3 Kg shot put and hammer as well as 500 grams javelin, will be put in to effect from the above championships.
/ AFI /
4th Asian All-Stars Athletics Meet
Sandeep won gold, Arpinder settle with silver on second day
Almaty, Kazakhstan – 1 July 2012
Indian athletes won a gold and a silver medals on the second and final day of 4th Asian All-Stars Athletics Meet here on Sunday.
Metric miler Sandeep Singh, who is credited with a personal best 3:42.76 hardly five days ago when he won the 1500m at the National Inter-State championships in Hyderabad, went on to win the top spot here with a slow 3:51.66 just ahead of little-known Artem Kossinov of Kazakhstan who clocked 3:51.73. Japanese Hiroshi Ino was third in 3:53.23.
Promising junior Arpinder Singh who excelled at the senior level last year with title crown in National Games (Ranchi) and Open Nationals (Kolkata) cap it with a career best 16.63m in triple jump could not realised his dream of touching the Olympic qualification today. His best jump of the day measured to 16.31m that was enough only for the silver medal. Local star Roman Valiyev—the Doha Asiad silver medallist six years ago—won the event by registered 16.60m. Another Japanese, Yuma Okabe, went home with a bronze in 16.11m.
RESULTS:
Men:
1500m: 1. Sandeep Singh IND 3:51.66, 2. Artem Kossinov KAZ 3:51.73, 3. Hiroshi Ino JPN 3:53.23;
110m Hurdles: 1. Asgar Rohollu IRI 13.50, 2. Denis Semenov KAZ 13.59, 3. Aleksey Martiynov RUS 14.44;
High Jump: 1. Vitaliy Tsykunov KAZ 2.22, 2. Sergey Zassimovich KAZ 2.22, 3. Kumara W. P. Manjula SRI 2.22;
Triple Jump: 1. Roman Valiyev KAZ 16.60m (w: +0.5), 2. Arpinder Singh IND 16.31 (+0.1); 3. Yuma Okabe JPN 16.11 (+0.0);
Women:
100m Hurdles (w: -1.6): 1. Natalya Ivoninskaya KAZ 13.09, 2. Anastassiya Pilipenko KAZ 13.19, 3. Erawati Dedeh INA 13.20;
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Joseph Abraham won gold, but misses Olympic qualification again
Almaty, Kazakhstan – 30 June 2012
It was a mixed-feeling for Joseph G. Abraham, the reigning Asian Games champion, who won the men’s 400m hurdles here on the first day of 4th Asian All-Stars Athletics Meet. The 30-year-old Abraham was happy just because he won the race in this meet. Two years ago at New Delhi he had finished second to Takayuki Koike of Japan in the third edition. However his disappoint came for not making the Olympic B-grade of 49.80 secs to London on his final bid here. “I am not destined to be an Olympian” was the reaction of this Railway employee from Kerala who visibly seen shattered after the race for not realising his London dreams.
Joseph ran all-out to clock 50.22 secs, his second fastest time this season after his noteworthy 49.98 clocking at the Federation Cup in Patiala in April. Kazakh junior Dmitriy Koblov posted his second career best 50.64s for the silver while teammate, fifth at Guangzhou Asiad behind Joeph in 2010, took the bronze in a modest 50.86s.
National record-holder and Olympic qualifier Tintu Luka missed another chance to dip below two minutes this season in women’s 800m run on her run-up towards the London games. Tintu timed 2:01.71 for a bronze behind host-country’s Margaria Mukasheva (2:00.48) and Vietnamese Truong Thanh Hang (2:01.70) in the same order she did during the Guangzhou Asiad two years ago for another bronze medal.
Apart from Joseph and Tintu no other Indians came within the medal bracket on the opening day. Most disappointing among them was quarter-miler P. Kunhu Muhammed, who got disqualified in the men’s 400m for a false-start. Having clocked an impressive 46.44 secs during the Asian Grand Prix series in Thailand last month, Kunhu was expected to attain the board the Olympic bus in Almaty but missed it by over-pressure.
The newest among the Indian athletes who had qualified for the Olympics, high jumper Sahana Kumari fails to maintain her consistency as she fell down to fifth place with a moderate height of 1.85m. Only on last Saturday (23 June) she eclipsed Bobby Aloysius’s national mark with an incredible 1.92m clearing at the Indian Inter-State championships at Hyderabad to add her name on the list of Indian Olympians. A jet-log forced triple jumper M.A. Prajusha, who leapt to 13.66m four days ago, to land at fifth here with a mark of 13.28m which she achieved against a strong head-wind of 4.1 metres per second. The event was eventually won by the star athlete of Kazakhstan and Asian record-holder Olga Rypakova in 14.49m. Rypakova was a silver medallist in last year’s world championships in Daegu, Korea, and one of the favourites for the top-spot in this event at London.
RESULTS:
Men
100m (w: +0.6): 1. Reza Ghasemi IRI 10.24, 2. Vyacheslav Muravyev KAZ 10.59, 3. Grigoriy Volodin KAZ 10.64;
400m: 1. Sagzhen Hashemiahan IRI 46.51, 2. Sergey Zaykov KAZ 46.83, 3. Maxim Mushtayev KAZ 47.51 ( DQ for false start - P. Kunhu Mohammed IND);
400m Hurdles: 1. Joseph G. Abraham IND 50.22, 2. Dimitriy Koblov KAZ 50.64, 3 Viktor Leptikov KAZ 50.86;
Long Jump: 1. Ayudhaya Supaanara THA 7.76 (w: +0.0), 2. Mohammad Arzandeh IRI 7.74 (+0.1), 3. Konstantin Safronov KAZ 7.72 (+0.2);
Shot Put: 1. Ivan Ivanov KAZ 18.46, 2. Mehrsafootizanjanigar Alireza IRI 18.42, 3. Yohei Murakawa JPN 18.33 (6. Jagroop Singh IND 17.37);
Women
100m (w: +0.8): 1. Olga Bludova KAZ 11.26, 2. Anastassiya Tulapina KAZ 11.60, 3. Thi Huong Vu VIE 11.70;
400m: 1. Viktoriya Zyabkina KAZ 51.67, 2. Marina Maslenko KAZ 53.32, 3. Maryam Toosi IRI 53.65 (5. M.R. Poovamma IND 55.22, 7. K. Sowjanya IND 58.06);
800m: 1. Margarita Mukasheva KAZ 2:00.48, 2. Truong Thanh Hang VIE 2:01.70, 3. Tintu Luka IND 2:01.71;
400m Hurdles: 1. Tatyana Azarova KAZ 55.71, 2. Alexandra Kuzina KAZ 56.26, 3. Ghofran Mohammed SYR 58.44;
High Jump: 1. Marina Aitova KAZ 1.95, 2. Thi Viet Anh Duong VIE 1.92, 3. Wanida Boonwwan THA 1.89 (5. Sahana Kumari IND 1.85);
Triple Jump: 1. Olga Rypakova KAZ 14.49 (w: -0.2), 2. Irina Ektova KAZ 14.29 (+0.0), 3. Lyudmila Grankovskaya KAZ 13.63 (+0.0) (5. M. A. Prajusha IND 13.28 (-4.1).
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships-2012
Kerala retains overall championship and proved its supremacy once again
Hyderabad, 26 June 2012
M.A. Prajusha, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist in long jump, was the cynosure of all eyes on the concluding day of Greenko National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at G.M.C. Balayogi Staidum in Gachibowli here on Tuesday evening.
The Kerala jumper looked very energetic when she takes up the runway towards triple jump pit. Her first jump of 13.26m itself assured her the gold medal. Prajusha faultered on her second try but went on to register a fine series of 13.55, 13.66, 13.53 and 13.45m on her remaining attempts to defend the title in this event. However she barely missed to better the meet mark of 13.68m standing in her state-mate Mayookha Johny’s name since 2010. Shraddha Ghule from Maharashtra, the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games champion, took the silver with a 13.18m jump while Amitha Baby of Keralathe bronze in 12.72m.
Other athletes who defends their title from last year include Kheta Ram (Rajasthan) in 10000m at men’s division, M.M. Anchu (Kerala) in 100m hurdles, Harwant Kaur (Punjab) in discus throw and Sushmita Singha Roy (Bengal) in heptathlon in the women’s section.
Harwant, the Commonwealth silver medallist at Delhi-2010, could manage only 55.92m in the discus throw and hence could not join her teammates Krishna Poonia and Seema Antil in the London-bound squad.
Rajasthan’s Shakti Singh recorded a personal best 18.25m to take the men’s shot put gold while distance runner Kheta Ram brought another for the state in the 10,000m clocking 29:49.71.
Jharkhand hurdler A. Suresh timed career best 13.96 secs to win the men’s 110m hurdles from much fancied Tamil Nadu stars T. Balamurugan (14.18) and K. Premkumar (14.62). Metric miler Jhuma Khatun, who also represented Jharkhand, engaged in a keen tussle with Kerala girl S.R. Bindu in women’s 1500m and virtually take the title in a thrilling sprint finish on the home stretch clocking 4:28.31 to Bindu’s 4:28.53.
Similarly the men’s race also witnessed a major contest between Asian Indoor Games champion Chatholi Hamza (Kerala) and Haryana runner Sandeep which the latter won in 3:43.76. Hamza clocked 3:45.67 for the second place.
Delhi sprinter Nitin overpowered Tamil Nadu’s Manikanda Arumugam in men’s 200m (21.44 secs) while Haryana athlete Manisha grab the title in women’s race in 24.26s. Andhra Pradesh’s Satti Geetha who was trying to emulate her sprint-double from the Patiala edition of the inter-state two years ago however finished second in today’s race with a time of 24.33 secs.
As expected Kerala retained the overall title with a whooping 192 points, as the runners-up Uttar Pradesh finished a distant second in 82 points.
Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have taken the second spot in the team championships for men and women respectively.
Punjab’s intermediate hurdler Satinder Singh and Kerala half-miler Tintu Luka have been adjudged as best male and female athletes of the
championships.
Mr N. Kirankumar Reddy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and a noted cricketer in his heydays, presided over the valedictory function and gave away the prizes and awards to the winners.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Satinder upsets Joseph Abraham in 400m hurdles
Hyderabad, 25 June 2012
In a race which everyone looked with some anticipation, reigning Asian Games champion and former world championship semi-finalist Joseph G. Abraham suffered a blow as he finished second in a slow time which shattered his hope to book a ticket to London Olympics next month.
Having clocked 50.60 secs in yesterday’s semi-finals Joseph—the national record-holder with 49.51s—aiming to clock the ‘B’ standard of 49.80s on Monday evening. However when the race begun at G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium, the venue of numerous international meetings earlier, the Kerala athlete lagged behind defending champion Satinder Singh of Punjab. He has tried to catch-up with Satinder on the eighth hurdle but fatigue played its role as Joseph fails to maintain the tempo thereafter, finishing second in 50.39s against Satinder’s 49.99s personal best for front position. Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Durgesh Kumar Pal of Maharashtra was third in 50.80s.
There was a clean sweep by Kerala in the women’s race with R. Anu taking the gold in 60.34 secs. K.P. Bimin was another Kerala athlete who triumphed in men’s pole vault by successfully defends his title. clearing 4.95m.
The long jump pit witnessed high drama as Karnataka’s 21-year-old M. Arshad won the event by just 1 cm from Asian Indoor and Asian junior bronze medallist K. Prem Kumar from Tamil Nadu (7.42 to 7.41m) on his last try. Defending champion Amritpal Singh could not find his rhythm and hence finished fourth with 7.28m. Former national champion Maha Singh with the same distance took the bronze as he had better series than Amritpal.
Rajasthan’s Manju Bala clinched her second successive gold in women’s hammer throw by set out the ball and chain to 58.27m while Delhi lad Anil Singh set the spear to 74.39m for the top spot in men’s javelin throw.
In 4x100m relay, Satti Geetha powered the Andhra team to victory in the women’s race while the men’s title went to Tamil Nadu.
Earlier in the morning Deepmala Devi claimed her fifth title in the women’s 20 km walk. Surinder Singh got the men’s title in this event.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Upsets galore on the second day
Hyderabad, 24 June 2012
The second day’s competitions in the Greenko National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships witnessed several upsets as favourite athletes fails to defend the top spots in their respective events.
First such defeat came in the women’s shot put in which defending champion P. Udayalakshmi from the host state went down to Punjab’s Patwant Kaur who tossed the iron ball to 13.76m for the victory. However the National Games champion from Andhra Pradesh could manage only 13.35m on Sunday evening and hence settled for silver. Bengal’s Suparna Ghosh who threatened to pull Udayalakshmi further however ended with the bronze in her 13.31m put.
Other defending champions who lost their gold status include S.K. Mortaja in 400m, Sajeesh Joseph in 800m and Ramachandran in steeplechase among men.
In a much awaited battle in women’s 800m between Tintu Luka of Kerala and Sinimole Paulose, who represented Karnataka this time, went up to the wire but the young Tintu ascertained her position as she successfully defends her title in 2:01.36. Sinimole timed 2:03.71 for the silver while another Keralite S.R. Bindu finished third in 2:09.53.
However the men’s 800m, which held just before the women’s race, witnessed keen contest between veteran Ghamanda Ram (Rajasthan) and defending champion Sajeesh Joseph (Kerala). A very good line-up which includes meet record-holder Pankaj Dimri (Uttarakhand) and Tamil Nadu star Francis Sagayaraj, who involved in a fierce contest with Dimri during his record 1:46.26 win at Patiala two years ago throw much anticipation for an Olympic qualifier to emerge from this event. However Sajeesh lost his tempo midway and paved way for Ghamanda Ram to take the gold in a noteworthy 1:47.57 while Jinson Johnson from Chattisgarh was a close second in 1:47.80. Sajeesh was third at 1:48.85.
But the biggest surprise of the day came in men’s 3000m steeplechase when Manipur’s Th. Sanjit Luwang inflicted a rare defeat on defending champion and pre-race favourite Ramachandran (TN). They fought till the wire when the North Eastern athlete sprinted past to take the first place in 8:47.09 just ahead of Ramachandran’s 8:47.58.
In the ten-event decathlon competition K. Dileep Kumar of Marharashtra triumphed as the Army Sports Institute athlete garnered 6676 points as
against his nearest rival Chandrahas Kushwaha of Uttar Pradesh who finished second with 4 points lesser.
Bengal girl Debashree Mazumdar takes the 400m in 54.60 secs. Priyanka Singh Patel (UP) and M.A. Prajusha (Kerala) claimed the title in women’s 3000m steeplechase and long jump in the absence of defending champions Sudha Singh and Mayookha Johny—both Olympic qualifiers and currently training abroad.
Dharambir provisionally suspended Athlete Dharambir from Haryana, who won the men’s 100m yesterday, is provisionally suspended by the Athletics Federation pending enquiry for evaded the dope test. Announcing the suspension, Shri Adille J. Sumariwalla, President of Athletics Federation of India said strong action will be taken against the erring athlete and the federation will not tolerate the doping-menace anymore. The President further added that in future action will be taken not only on erring athletes but also on their respective coaches.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Sahana Kumari qualified for London Olympics
Hyderabad, 23 June 2012
Karnataka high jumper Sahana Kumari become the fourteenth Indian athlete to qualify for the forthcoming Olympic Games in London when she cleared 1.92m to achieve this distinction during the first day of Senior Nationals in G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium here on Saturday evening.In that process she erased the previous national meet record of 1.91m held by Bobby Aloysius of Kerala since 2004.
Geetha, Dharambir fastest on the opening day
Local girl Satti Geetha brought cheer to the home-crowd this evening as she went on to win the marquee event of the opening day—100m sprint.Geetha, a member of the Indian 4x400m relay quartet which got the gold in the Doha Asiad six years ago, spirited away from the rest of the athletes who lined-up with her like an arrow out from the bow after the pre-race favourite Manisha of Haryana had disqualified for a false start. The 28-year-old Geetha, already a winner of 100m in the Inter-State championships at Patiala two years ago, clocked 12 seconds flat to take the first place under flood-lights in the G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli. In the morning heats she timed 12.04 secs to led the qualifiers. Kerala’s M.M. Anchu was second at 12.18s while the bronze medal went to Ruma Sarkar from West Bengal in 12.37s.
Dharambir Singh (21), basically a 200m specialist, entered in men’s 100m at eleventh hour. His 10.69s clocking, fastest among the qualifying heats in the morning, sent a warning to other top-rung athletes who assembled here. However the overconfident sprinters ignored it and thus suffered a defeat in the hands of the Haryana lad as he spearheaded to win the men’s race in a marvellous 10.51 secs. Andhra sprinter Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, the joint national record-holder in 100m with a time of 10.30s, just recovered from an injury to take the silver in 10.59s just ahead of Kiran Kumar Rane of Maharashtra who clocked 10.60s where defending champion Shameer Mon of Kerala finished fourth at 10.62s.
National junior champion Indrajeet Patel (Uttar Pradesh) posted a personal best 14:21.44 to win the men’s 5000m run. The women’s title went to Sahanara Khatun of West Bengal in 17:58.56.
Defending champion Arpinder Singh of Punjab was an easy victor in triple jump with 15.90m.
Dharam Raj Yadav gave Madhya Pradesh its first gold through his win in discus throw (51.62) wherein Kerala collected its first-ever medal. C.G. Binoy had this rare honour by hurling the discus to 49.39m. It was only the third medal ever the state won in men’s throw events after Sylel’s bronze in javelin throw at the inaugural edition of the championships in 1963 at Allahabad and another bronze by Babu Mathew in shot put in 1994 at Pune.
National record-holder Surekha Renjith triumphed in women’s pole vault after two-years-hiatus. She scaled 3.60m for her record seventh title in this event which was introduced to the inter-state programme in 1999.
Inter-University champion Anu Rani from Uttar Pradesh pulled a surprise win over her state-mate Suman Devi in javelin throw. Rani set out the spear to 53.95m while the seasoned Suman barely missed the top spot in the podium in her 53.61m throw.
Earlier in the evening the meet was inaugurated by His Excellency Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governor of Andhra Pradesh, in the presence of Shri. Vatti Vasantha Kumar, Hon’ble Minister for Sports and Youth Services in Andhra Pradesh and other dignitaries.
For online results click here.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Asian junior championships
Rahul Kumar’s distance-double hauled India to a higher place
Colombo, Sri Lanka – 12 June 2012
India garnered three gold medals on the concluding day of Asian junior championships here, which helped the nation to climb third spot on the medal chart with the final tally of 4 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals.
India had a golden beginning on Tuesday when race walker Kuldeep brought the first medal of the day in 45:01.43. Later in the evening heptathlete Purnima Hembram collected 4979 points clinch another gold.
Youth Olympic Games medallists Durgesh Kumar and Arjun disappointed the Indian fans with minor placings. Arjun could manage only a silver (56.61m) behind Iranian Mojtaba Shabaneh (58.79m) in discus throw. Durgesh Kumar finished third in 400m hurdles with a time of 51.38 secs behind Saudi Arabia’s Ibrahim Mohd Saleh (51.20s) and Japanese Yuichi Nagano (51.32s).
However distance runner Rahul Kumar Pal ran a thrilling 5000m race later in the evening and won the title for a “double” to add with his 10000m gold he won on the second day of competition. Rahul pips Kota Murayama on the post with a time of 14:33.60 to 14:33.67 for the podium finish.
As usual China top the table with 15 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals, followed by Chinese Taipei (6-3-6) and India. Hosts Sri Lanka finished seventh with a unique 2-2-2.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Sukhdev gave India a silver-lining in Asian junior championships
Colombo, Sri Lanka – 11 June 2012
Haryana lad Sukhdev Singh got the only medal for India on the third day of Asian junior championships at Sugathadasa Stadium here on Monday. He registered 65.25m to win the silver medal in hammer throw behind Qatari superstar Ashraf Elseify Amgad who had a massive 80.85m continental junior record for the gold. Kuwait’s Alhenoal Mobarais went home with the bronze in 59.86m.
However in other events three Indian athletes missed the podium narrowly. Long jumper Shipu Mondal was fourth with a jump of 5.89m. At Junior FedCup in Pune she crossed 6.04m. A repeat of that performance could have put her in second place here. However she missed out the opportunity today.
Javelin thrower Rajesh Kumar Bind (67.44m) and Steeplechaser Shakti Singh (9:22.83) were the other fourth place finishers of the day in their respective events.
Earlier Indian men’s 4x400m relay team qualified for tomorrow’s final by winning the second heat with a time of 3:14.80 and heptathlete Purnima Hembram led the event at the end of first day of competition with 2921 points, about 290 points more than her nearest rival Liou Ya-Jyun of Chinese-Taipei.
Tomorrow is the last day of competition in the championships.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Rahul Kumar garnered gold in Asian junior championships
Colombo, Sri Lanka – 10 June 2012
Distance runner Rahul Kumar Pal made India and his unit Army Sports Institute, Pune, proud by securing the gold in 10,000m this evening. The race, ran under hot weather conditions, saw twelve athletes from 10 nations crossed the swords for the top spot. Rahul was a pre-race favourite with his Junior Federation Cup victory in Pune as his time of 29:49.80 was the second fastest by a junior athlete in the continent this year. The season leader Kenta Murayama of Japan (29:13.16) not entered the fray.
Rahul utilised the opportunity very well and went on to win the title clocking 30:28.95 and thus joined his predecessors N. Gojen Singh (1996) and Suresh Kumar Patel (2010) as a proud Asian junior champion from India in this event. Japanese duo Daichi Kamino (31:22.10) and Takahashi Soushi (31:54.63) took the next two positions on the podium.
India also secured one silver and two bronze medals on the second day of competitions today. Priyanka Mondal won the silver in junior women’s 400m clocking 56.01 secs while the bronze medals came through walker Khushbir Kaur and long jumper Kumaravel Premkumar. Host country’s R.M.S.K. Rathnayake topped in 400m with 55.91s. Kazakh runner Olga Andreyeva was third in 56.03s.
In the women’s 10000m race walking event, conducted this morning, Kaur finished third in 50:39.40. Korea’s Lee Jeongeun won the gold in this event in a time of 49:04.60 while the silver medal went to Wang Yalan of China in 50:01.15. It was the first medal for India in that event which was first introduced in 1999.
Prem Kumar, the lone medallist from the country in this year’s Asian indoor championships at Hangzhou (China) this February, emulate country-mate Ankit Sharma’s bronze medal win from the last edition of the Asian junior championships held at Hanoi two years ago. His best jump of the day measured to 7.52m and that fetch him the third place although a better performance was expected from him by the Indian camp. Lin Qing of China and Tomoya Takamasa of Japan went away with gold and silver medals with the performances of 7.96 and 7.68m respectively.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Vikas Gowda become the first Indian to win a Diamond League medal
New York, USA – 9 June 2012
US-based Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda tonight become the first athlete from the nation to made a podium finish when he finished third in Adidas Grand-prix, the sixth stop in this year’s Diamond League meetings.
In what is said to be his last competition prior to the Olympic Games in London, Gowda throw 64.86m to achieve this honour. Earlier this year Vikas improved his national mark to 66.28m in Norman on April 12. Hungary’s Athens Olympics silver medallist Zoltan Kovago won in New York with a noteworthy 66.36m while Spaniard Yennifer Frank Casanas was second in 65.21m.
Coached by father Shive Gowda, a former national decathlete, came seventh in last year’s world championships in Daegu, Korea, and was a silver medallist in the Commonwealth Games at Delhi in 2010.
Tintu third in Italy
Tintu Luka, the Olympic qualifier in 800m, finished third in her pet event at Primo Nebiolo memorial meet at Turin, Italy. She clocked 2:02.71 behind Cuba’s Yusneysi Santiusti (2:00.93) and local star Marta Milani (2:02.65).
In the first day of Asian junior championships which commenced at Sri Lankan capital Colombo today, Indian shot putter Praduman Singh finished seventh with a performance of 16.37m. Unconfirmed reports say Praduman, son of former national champion Shakti Singh, tossed the 6 kg iron ball to 18.30m in the United States earlier this year. China’s Li Meng become Asian junior champion with a massive throw of 19.95m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Sudha attained Olympic qualification in steeplechase
Huelva, Spain – 7 June 2012
Sudha Singh finally made it! The gritty 25-year-old railway employee from Rai Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh gave herself an advance treat for her birthday, which is just over two weeks away, by securing an Olympic berth on Thursday night.
Sudha, who barely missed the Olympic qualification while taking part in Shanghai Diamond League last month, showed tremendous form and clocked an impressive 9:47.70 to achieve the Olympic B-grade in 3000m steeplechase. Like in Shanghai, Sudha once again finished eleventh in the race held in VIII meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo in the Spanish town which was eventually won by Ethiopian Etenesh Diro in a time of 9:21.54. Sudha’s time of 9:47.70 was her seventh national record in five years. Her first record came in Jamshedpur nationals when she bettered the controversial Tamil Nadu athlete Shanthi Soundararajan’s previous mark by nearly 26 secs. After improving the record it twice Sudha lost it briefly in 2010 to training partner O.P. Jaisha during the inter-state meet at Patiala, but recaptured in style during her fifth place finish at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Later she went on to become the inaugural Asian Games champion in that event at Guangzhou in a time of 9:55.67, atime she eclipsed twice this year.
After her stint with the Belarus coach Nikolai Snesarev, Sudha along with Jaisha and two other distance runners—Kavita Raut and Preeja
Sreedharan—received training under Claudio Berardelli since late 2011. They first practiced in the high-altitude Eldoret in Kenya before moving to Italy and mentored by Dr. Gabriele Rosa—globally renowned distance running coach and sports doctor.
Berardelli, the cyclist-turned-athletics trainer, put his confidence on Sudha and said she is highly dedicated and motivated with her sincerity towards the workouts and expect better performance by his prodigy in the London Olympics.
Progression of National Records in women’s 3000m steeplechase
11:05.67 B. Hemalatha 30 Jul 2003 Hyderabad
10:52.12 L. Manjula 17 Mar 2004 New Delhi
10:44.65 S. Shanthi * 04 Jul 2005 Bangalore
10:18.76 Sudha Singh 25 Oct 2007 Jamshedpur
10:10.77 Sudha Singh 12 Nov 2009 Guangzhou
10:09.56 Sudha Singh 17 May 2010 Kochi
10:03.05 O.P. Jaisha 08 Aug 2010 Patiala
9:57.63 Sudha Singh 09 Oct 2010 New Delhi
9:55.67 Sudha Singh 21 Nov 2010 Guangzhou
9:49.25 Sudha Singh 19 May 2012 Shanghai
9:47.70 Sudha Singh 07 June 2012 Huelva
( * Shanthi since disqualified under IAAF rule 32.2a in 2006 )
Mayookha leapt 6.60m in long jump and Indian athletes triumph elsewhere
Reigning Asian champion Mayookha Johny successfully long jumped to 6.60m for winning the international competition in Rhede, Germany, last evening.Having already qualified to Olympic Games in triple jump, Mayookha desperately trying to attain the norm in long jump as well but was 5 cm short of the requirement. The world championship finalist in Daegu is having a better chance in long jump than in triple.
Among the other Indian athletes who had already qualified for this summer’s Games at London and training abroad, shot putter Om Prakash Singh Karhana delivered another 20+ mark when he registed 20.04m in his training-base at Szombathely, Hungary, on 6th June. Singh tossed the iron ball to an incredible distance of 20.69m there on May 12 and won an international meet in Vienna, Austria, with 19.82m on 29th May.
Discus thrower Krishna Poonia, after finishing fourth in the Prefontine Classic in Eugene at the beginning of this month (1 June) with a throw of 62.11m, displayed an improved show at Portland when she garnered a silver medal at the Post Pre Elite Women’s event in 62.34m. The Commonwealth champion pegged her personal best 64.76m in a Hawaiian island at Wailuku last month.
Two other Indians are taking part in major meetings in Europe and the United States this week. Half-miler Tintu Luka is attempting to improve her time in 800m tonight at the Primo Nebiolo memorial meeting at Turin, Italy, while discus thrower Vikas Gowda trying his might at the Diamond League in New York tomorrow.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships
Competition scheduled released
Delhi – 6 June 2012
Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh state capital, is going to host the National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships from 23rd to 26th this month. The four-day meet, to be held in G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium, will serve as a “Final Olympic Trials” for the Indian aspirants looking for a slot in the national team to the Olympic Games in London.
This is the third time Hyderabad hosts this prestigious championship after having conducted it earlier in 1975 and 1979—when it was part of the “National Games”. The A.P. Athletics Association also organised another edition of the inter-state meet in 1989 at Guntur. Having established in 1963 at Allahabad, the Inter-State championships celebrate its 50th year of induction this year.The competition calendar for the Hyderabad meet is just released and can be found hereunder.
/ AFI /
Sudha Singh barely missed Olympic qualification in steeplechase
Shanghai, China – 19 May 2012
The Diamond League in Shanghai today was held under wet and cold conditions following heavy downpour.
Sudha Singh, the inaugural winner of 3000m steeplechase when it inducted at the Asian Games in Guangzhou two years ago, improved her national record in more than six seconds to 9:49.25 while finished eleventh in the Samsung Diamond League here on Saturday evening. However she barely missed the Olympic B-standard of 9:48.00 by a whisker.
“It was her first competition of the season. In fact she can able to achieve the Olympic A-standard of 9:43.00 by the time she compete in her next meet” explained Jasvinder Singh Bhatia, the coach attached to Sudha Singh and three other long distance runners--Preeja Sreedharan, Kavita Raut and O.P. Jaisha. The above four athletes were training in high-altitude Eldoret in Kenya since early this year.
Another Indian athlete, Sinimole Paulose, finished fourteenth in women’s 1500m with a season’s best time of 4:11.25. It was indeed her second best time in career after a 4:10.51 clocking in Chennai, six years ago. The “B” standard for London in this event stood at 4:08.90.
Shanghai was the second stop in the fourteen-leg Samsung Diamond League series this year. The quality of competition were too high with World Leading performances were achieved in many events including the 1500m—3:57.77 by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia—and in steeplechase—9:15.81 by Milcah Chemos of Kenya.
In the first leg at Doha on 11 May, two Indians Vikas Gowda and Tintu Luka took part. Gowda was sixth in discus throw with a performance of 64.10m while Tintu finished eighth in 800m with a time of 2:01.09—where Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo clocked another World Lead 1:56.94.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Venues for Youth and Junior Nationals inter-changed
Delhi, 15 May 2012
Please take not that there was a change in venues in the competition calendar of the federation. The National Youth (under-18) Athletics Championships, which was originally scheduled to be held at Lucknow on 13-14 July, have been shifted to Bangalore. Subsequently the multi age-group Junior Nationals originally planned in Karnataka from October 27 to 31 since been shifted to Lucknow.
The dates and venues for other championships remain unaltered. An updated version of the 2012 competition calendar is now available in our website.
/ AFI /
Asian Grand Prix-2012
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Unbeaten series for Indian 4x400m relay squads Chonburi, Thailand – 14 May 2012 The longer relay squads in both men and women divisions had a clean sweep of series in the three-leg Asian Grand Prix which concluded in Thailand today. Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary garnered his second successive gold medal but quarter-milers Kunhu Muhammed and Poovamma fails to repeat their feat and finished second in 400m for men and women respectively. When compared to previous two legs, the performance in the final of these series had been on low-key at Chonburi. The only athlete who showed some improvement than earlier meets was long jumper Mayookha Johny with a 6.50m leap, yet it was 15 cm short of the Olympic B-grade. Having already qualified in triple jump, Mayookha is looking for a slot in the long jump as well. Indian Results: MEN 400m: 2nd P.P. Kunhu Muhammed 46.44s 800m: 2nd Sajeesh Joseph 1:49.96, 3rd Ghamanda Ram 1:50.06 Long Jump: 5th Ankit Sharma 7.37m Triple Jump: 1st Renjith Maheswary 16.46m, 3rd Arpinder Singh 15.85 Javelin Throw: 5th Rohit Kumar 69.12m 4x100m: 5th – 39.56s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:10.57 WOMEN 400m: 2nd M.R. Poovamma 53.50s, 4th Saraswati Chand 55.07s 800m: 2nd Sinimol Paulose 2:03.34 High Jump: 4th Sahana Kumari 1.83m Long Jump: 2nd Mayookha Johny 6.50m, 8th M.A. Prajusha 5.81m 4x100m: 3rd – 49.06s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:38.22 / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
IAAF World Race Walking Cup
Finally Gujarat got a representative in Race Walking for Olympic Games
Saransk, Russia – 13 May 2012
When Babubhai Panucha missed the Olympic “A” standard yesterday despite a personal best clocking in 20 km walk, many in his home-state Gujaraj got dejected. However the athletics fans from India’s most developed state had something to rejoice within 24 hours when another of the state’s walker Basant Bahadur Rana improved more than eight minutes to his 4-year-old national mark when he registered 4:02:13 to make the cut for London Olympics here on Sunday morning.
Rana, on his second appearance in the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, finished 32nd to attain the “B” standard and thus booked his berth for the summer games. He was indeed very close to the “A” standard of 3:59:00. His teammate Sandeep Kumar four places behind in 4:03:45, which was also within the B-grade 4:09:00, but only one athlete with this standard can make the national team.
Other two Indians, Chandan Singh (4:16:23) and Gurpreet Singh (4:21:19), were finished 57th and 62nd respectively. All the four walkers clocked personal best timings today. When Rana took part in the World Cup at Cheboksary four years ago, he finished a distant 68th in 4:43:09. India’s best result in the Olympic Games in 50 km walk was an eighth place finish by Zora Singh at Rome in 1960.
In the women’s 20 km walk, the newly crowned national champion and record-holder Khushbir Kaur once again failed on the big stage as she clocked only 1:44:07 in her 70th place out of 88 finishers. Kaur (18) clocked an incredible record time of 1:37:28 when she had won the Federation Cup in Patiala last month. However the above time will not count for Olympic qualification. Earlier Khushbir finished fifth in the Asian championships at Nomi city, Japan, in 1:44:30 this March.
The other Indian, Deepmala Devi, did not start the race.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
ONGC shot putter Om Prakash Singh shattered 12-year-old national record
Szombathely, Hungary – 13 May 2012
As the Olympic Games in London approaching fast, Indian athletes started delivering stupendous performances in their various training bases and competitions across the World. The latest such achievement came from shot putter Om Prakash Singh.
The ONGC employee, who is training at the IAAF High Performance Centre in Hungary had taken part in Su-Di-Ka Kupa meet organised on Saturday (12 May) by one of the largest athletic clubs in the country—Szombathely SE—and tossed the iron ball to 20.69m. His mark eclipsed the previous national record of 20.42m held by Shakti Singh since 2000. Om Prakash, who already qualified for the Olympic Games, now attained the “A” standard and thus proved consistency in his performance level.
Om Prakash, currently training under Anil Kumar, recalled with gratitude his short stint under Shakti Singh long ago. “Both Anil Kumar and Shakti Singh were Olympians as well as Asian medallists and hails from the same village in District Bhiwani, Haryana state, from where I belongs to” he revealed in an email statement from Hungary.
“The weather was suddenly plunged below 15 degree Celsius from the previous day’s 33 degree sunny climate and that affected me and other throwers heavily in returning our best. Besides this there was a gusty wind followed by heavy rain that prevented further ambitions in this regard” Singh added.
His series read as 20.09, 20.60, Foul, 20.40, 20.63, 20.69. It means he improved the national record at least three times during yesterday’s event. After achieving his first goal getting the national record, Om Prakash is now eyeing for the Asian mark of 21.13m held by Saudi Arabia’s Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi. It was only a second competition for the Indian this season after he touched 19.86 here on April 14. His 20.69m placed him ninth in the current world rankings. Om Prakash is planning to take part in one of the Diamond League meets in July in Europe before making his voyage to London.
Sponsored under Olympic Solidarity programme, he got financial support through OPEX scheme in Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs. He thanked the ministry, Sports Authority of India, Athletics Federation of India, Olympic Gold Quest and his employers Oil and Natural Gas Commission as well as coach Anil Kumar for his achievement.
Milestones and Progression of Indian Records in Shot Put:
First 14m -14.36 Parduman Singh 1954
First 15m - 15.34 Dinshaw Irani 1961
First 16m - 16.02 Dinshaw Irani 1963
First 17m - 17.00 Joginder Singh 1970
First 18m - 18.44 Bahadur Singh 1974
First 19m - 19.08 Shakti Singh 1995
Progress since first 20m
20.09 Shakti Singh 2000
20.31 Shakti Singh 2000
20.42 Shakti Singh 2000
20.60 Om Prakash Singh 2012
20.63 Om Prakash Singh 2012
20.69 Om Prakash Singh 2012
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
IAAF World Race Walking Cup
Indian team finished fifth in men’s 20 km
Saransk, Russia – 12 May 2012
At recent times Indian walkers were on limelight as they have been continue to deliver world-class performances at home. So it is natural that everyone expects how they would fare at the global stage. When an opportunity arose, they didn’t disappoint. The team from INDIA finished FIFTH in the men’s 20 km on the opening day of IAAF World Race Walking Cup at the Russian city Saransk on Saturday evening. It is indeed a great achievement as they fought with the elite teams from around the World. As expected the Russians were on top. China, in spite of Zhen Wang’s first place finish in 1:19:13, finished second. Ukraine and Australia took the next two places and hence listed above the Indians in this prestigious event which served as a qualifier for the upcoming Olympic Games in London.
Kolothum Thodi Irfan, the promising Indian walker who already made waves with an outstanding performance in the recent Federation Cup held at Patiala, kept his promise alive as he joined the Indian Team for London Olympics when finished 19th with a personal best 1:22:09. Training at high altitude Madras Regimental Centre in Wellington, Nilgiris, the 22-year-old Keralite became the third Indian to attain the “A” grade in 20 km walk after Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh.
Senior teammate Babu Bhai Panucha finished 24th had also clocked a personal best time of 1:22:56 but it was just outside the “A” standard (1:22:30). Surender Singh completed ten places later in 34th at 1:24:05 for taking the team to fifth place on the team standings. Another Indian on the fray, the young Maniram Patel, was disqualified in the last quarter of the race. Indian walkers are taking part in men’s 50 km and women’s 20 km events tomorrow.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Asian Grand Prix-2012
Poovamma dazzles with a double in 400m
Kanchanapuri, Thailand – 11 May 2012
Quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma earned her second successive gold in the ongoing Asian Grand Prix series in Thailand. Having clocked a personal best 52.94 secs in 400m in the first leg at Bangkok on 8 May, the Mangalore girl extend her winning streak with a time of 53.01 here on Friday evening.
In both places she anchored the national 4x400m relay team to victory, 3:38.76 in Bangkok and an improved 3:36.82 here today, hence she put tremendous effort to keep the nation’s dream of getting in to participate in London Olympics alive. Indian men also won the longer relay event in the first two editions successfully.
The second-leg also witnessed a splendid performance by P.P. Kunhu Muhammed with a career best 46.14 secs to take the men’s 400m. Sajeesh Joseph, who won the 800m in the first leg, finished second here but improved his performance to a season’s best 1:47.45 as Iranian Ehsan Mohajer Shojaei took the front position in 1:47.27.
Another athlete who delivered an improved display today was triple jumper Renjith Maheswary. He leapt 16.61m for the gold. In the earlier edition he finished just third with 16.03m. Arpinder Singh, who was fourth that time, joined his senior compatriot with a 16.57m jump for the second place.
Indian Results @ Bangkok, 8 May
MEN
100m Race-A: 3rd B.G. Nagaraj 10.67s, Race-B: 2nd Krishna Kumar Rane 10.70s
400m: 5th Ajay Kumar 48.38s
800m: 1st Sajeesh Joseph 1:47.78, 3rd Ghamanda Ram 1:48.71
Long Jump: 4th Ankit Sharma 7.47m
Triple Jump: 3rd Renjith Maheswary 16.03m, 4th Arpinder Singh 15.95m
4x100m: 3rd – 39.51s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:08.00
WOMEN
400m: 1st M.R. Poovamma 52.94s
800m: 3rd Sinimol Paulose 2:03.19
High Jump: 2nd Sahana Kumari 1.89m
Long Jump: 4th Mayookha Johny 6.31m, 7th M.A. Prajusha 6.00m
4x100m: 4th – 48.97s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:38.76
Indian Results @ Kanchanapuri, 11 May
MEN
100m Race-A: 7th Abdul Najeeb Qureshi 10.73s, 8th Al-Ameen 10.74s
400m: 1st P.P. Kunhu Muhammed 46.14s
800m: 2nd Sajeesh Joseph 1:47.45, 4th Ghamanda Ram 1:48.48
Long Jump: 3rd Ankit Sharma 7.72m
Triple Jump: 1st Renjith Maheswary 16.61m, 2nd Arpinder Singh 16.57m
Javelin Throw: 3rd Rohit Kumar 71.07m
4x100m: 4th – 39.46s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:07.82
WOMEN
400m: 1st M.R. Poovamma 53.01s, 4th K. Sowjanya 55.89s
800m: 2nd Sinimol Paulose 2:02.78
High Jump: 3rd Sahana Kumari 1.89m
Long Jump: 2nd Mayookha Johny 6.48m, 7th M.A. Prajusha 6.09m
4x100m: 4th – 50.82s, 4x400m: 1st – 3:36.82
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
11th National Junior Federation Cup Athletics Championships
Haryana edged Kerala to become the overall champion
Pune, 10 May 2012As much as thirteen new meet records, five of them in junior women’s division, have been bettered in the three day National Junior Federation Cup Athletics championships which concluded at Shri Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex here this evening.
The athletes from hosts Maharashtra were once again on the limelight. In the morning, Rahul Kumar Pal clocked a notable 29:49.80 to win the junior men’s 10000m event—the first event of the day--and thus secured a place on the Indian squad for the ensuing World junior championships at Barcelona, Spain, in July this year. It was his second gold in this meet, adding it to the 5000m which he won yesterday, both with new meet marks.
In the junior women’s division similar distance double was achieved by Bengal girl Sahanara Khatun, who claimed both 3000 and 5000m golds with new championship records. In the last event of the day, Maharashtra hurdler Durgesh Kumar Pal—who 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) stood in the name of Kerala’s Jithin Paul. Teammate Satish Pasala was distant second in 53.15 secs.
“I had misjudged the last hurdle and hit it hence lost the rhythm, otherwise I could have improved my national junior record” Durgesh told after the event. Durgesh posted his national record 50.86s at the junior nationals in Ranchi last year.
Haryana boys made a clean sweep in the 400m run with Sachin Kumar clocked a marvellous 47.59s to gain the Barcelona qualification. Bengal girl Priyanka Mondal timed a noteworthy 55.81 in 400m and adjudged the best athlete among the junior women while the honour went to Durgesh Kumar Pal on the boys’ u-20 section. Odisha girl Purnima Hembram went home with a gold and record in the heptathlon. Seventeen boys in eleven events attained the qualification norms for the World junior championships. Ironically no girl athlete achieved it in this meet.
“The athletes were just arrived after their examinations and skipped the training for several weeks. I am sure more athletes attain the global standard during next month’s Asian junior championships at Colombo, Sri Lanka” 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 took 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.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Rahul Kumar Pal opened the golden day for hosts MaharashtraPune, 9 May 2012
The second day’s proceedings in Junior Federation Cup athletics competitions begun with a winning note for hosts Maharashtra as international Rahul Kumar Pal continued his golden run with a remarkable 14:16.67, a new meet mark, in the Junior Men’s 5000m race.Rahul, a havaldar with the Army Sports Institute here, was a silver medallist in last year’s National Games at Ranchi with a career best time of 14:14.35. Haryana lad Ankit Malik (14:48.10) and UP runner Rajendra Bind (14:48.90), the silver and bronze medallist in this event, also bettered the previous meet mark of 14:55.93 which was standing in the name of Kuldeep Kumar of Uttar Pradesh since the inaugural edition of Junior FedCup in 2001.
Rahul was trying to better Gojen Singh’s 16-year-old national junior record of 14:14.48 but could not succeed this morning. “He ran solely most of the race. He could have clocked somewhere near 14:05 if there had been anyone to challenge him” revealed S. Pichaiah, three-times national champion in steeplechase, who is now training the young prodigy in the ASI.
The corresponding event in the junior women division also witnessed the meet record being bettered by Bengal girl Sahanara Khatun in 17:30.48. The old mark (17:41.17) stood in the name of Suriya Loganathan of Tamil Nadu since 2009.
Delhi boy Arjun, the Youth Olympic Games silver medallist in 2010, recorded a personal best 57.57m to win his pet event—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 today.Navjeet Kaur, the Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist, won the women’s discus throw event by hurling the disc to 44.25m for a “double” in throws. Earlier she had won the shot put yesterday.
Archana Suseendran from Tamil Nadu, who missed a medal in 100m yesterday, fiercely fought to win the 200m dash from Odisha girl Dutee Chand--the winner of 100m--in a photo-finish (24.96 to 24.97 secs). Punjab boy Jatin Jain got the gold in the men’s race in 21.98s. Tamil Nadu got its second gold today when triple jumper Raja Sekar leaped to 15.80m on the first round. He fouled in all his subsequent attempts, but there was no one to threaten him for the top spot as second placed Ashman Sahu of Odisha was more than a metre away (14.75m) for the silver.
Hosts Maharashtra got three more gold medals through javelin thrower Rajesh Kumar Bind (74.75m), decathlete Dileep Kumar (6504) and steeplechaser Shakthi Singh (9:25.39).
Meenu Nirwal from Uttar Pradesh took the inaugural title in the junior women’s 2000m steeplechase clocking 7:53.17, which was introduced for the first time at national level in this championship.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Local boy Aneesh sparkled on the opening day
Pune, 8 May 2012
The eleventh edition of National Junior Federation Cup athletics championships got off to a flying start at Shri Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex in Balewadi on Tuesday morning with a new meet mark in the boys’ 10000m race walking.
Kuldeep Singh of Haryana won the first event of the day as he walked the 25 laps in 43 mins 37.66 secs. Delhi’s Neeraj (43:39.99) and Maharashtra’s Kapil Kumar (43:46.83), who claimed silver and bronze medals respectively, has also bettered the previous meet mark of 43:54.4 held by Gurmeet Singh of Punjab since 2004. The corresponding race for junior women was won by Shanti Kumari (Punjab) with a time of 53:55.68. Punjab got its second gold through shot putter Navjeet Kaur, who tossed the 4 Kg iron ball to 11.94m to win the event.
However the day belongs to Maharashtra hurdler Aneesh Abhay Joshi. The first year student in Trinity College of Engineering, Pune, accelerated against a strong head-wind to clock an incredible 14.05 secs for the gold in 110m hurdles, which obliterated his fellow state-mate Siddhanth Thingalaya’s meet record of 14.20 secs set during the previous edition of the Junior FedCup at Visakhapatnam two years ago. It was his maiden victory at a national championship. Training under Sanjay Patankar, Aneesh 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 in the Asian championships. The young Aneesh is now eagerly looking forward to improve his performance in the upcoming Asian junior championships at Colombo, Sri Lanka, next month.
Meghana Shetty, a prodigy of former SAI coach V.R. Beedu, gave Karnataka its first gold of the meet while winning the junior women’s 100m hurdles clocking 14.81 secs. The southern state also won another gold medal through ace high jumper Harshith, who sailed over a new height of 2.15m for the top spot.
Gujarat sprinter Shalin Patel had won his maiden national title as he became the fastest man of the meet in 10.98 secs. Sathyaseelan of Tamil Nadu, who clocked 10.96s in the semi-finals earlier, came second in the final (11.06) while his teammate Praveen Muthukumaran got the bronze two-hundredth of a second later.
Dutee Chand of Odisha earned the first medal for her state taking the junior women’s 100m in 12.20s.
As expected the Asian indoor bronze medallist Prem Kumar of Tamil Nadu was an easy victor in the long jump with a distance of 7.65m. Punjab’s Baljinder Singh was a distant second with a jump of 7.22m.
Haryana girl Jyoti edged the reigning Asian Youth Games 800m winner Namita Kabat of Jharkhand in the 1500m race this evening 4:40.10 to 4:40.56. Kerala’s P.U. Chitra was third in 4:41.74. Harish Koranga of Uttarakhand took the junior men’s title in 3:57.87. Harayana’s medal hunt was further inflated by shot putter Surender.
Earlier the championship was inaugurated by Shri. Padmakar Valavi, the Hon’ble Minister of Sports, Government of Maharashtra.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Pune ready to welcome young aspirants
Pune, 7 May 2012
The Junior Federation Cup, first introduced in 2001 at Bangalore, is the third major national championship for juniors besides the regular inter-state and inter-zonal junior meets. It was an annual feature on Indian athletics calendar, barring 2011 during that year it was not held.
The city of Pune is entrusted with the organisation of 11th edition of the Junior Federation Cup from May 8 to 10, this year. This is the second time that Pune is organising the above championship. First being 2008 when the meet was conducted at Babu Rao Sanas stadium in the city. Four meet records set during the above edition are still remains intact on the books. They are: 51.94 secs by Kerala’s Jithin Paul in 400m hurdles and 2.14m by Tamil Nadu high jumper Lakshmanan Yogaraj in the Junior Men category, a noteworthy 2:05.21 clocking in 800m by Tintu Luka and a 15.44m heave in shot put by Punjab thrower Manpreet Kaur on the Junior Women’s side.
This year’s championship will be held in Shri Shiv Chhatrapathi Sports Complex at Balewadi, on the outskirts of Pune. The above sports facility, built for the National Games in 1994, since hosted a number of importantevents including the International Permit Meet and Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008. When Pune hosted the previous edition of the Junior Federation Cup, it served as a selection trials for the Indian aspirants to the CYG in 2008. Likewise this year’s championship will decide on the Indian team to the Asian junior championships to be held in Colombo (9-12 June). As much as 44 events, 22 each for junior men and junior women, will be held in the three-day meet in which the 2000m steeplechase will be introduced for the first time for junior women this year.
/ AFI /
Commonwealth champ Krishna Poonia achieved season's best in Hawaii
Poonia does it again with a national record
Maui Island, USA – 7 May 2012
Krishna Poonia once again on the limelight, this time with a new national record effort in Hawaii Islands. In less than 48 hours after she produced a season best 63.67m here on 4th May, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist showed her excellent form to post a new mark of 64.76m in the Altius Track Crew Throwdown meet here last evening (6 May), according to information received from husband-and-coach Mr. Virendar Poonia. The previous listed national record was that of 64.64m by Seema Antil which she set in June 2004 at Chennai. Time and again she was second to American Olympian Stephanie Trafton, who hurled the disc to 66.86m. Her teammate Gia Lewis-Smallwood took third place in 63.97m. Krishna had a foul throw on her first round and 56.96m on the second before achieving her record throw (64.76) in the next. She completed her next three throws with 62.18, 61.55 and 63.68m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Wailuku, USA – 5 May 2012
Krishna Poonia, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who already qualified for the Olympic Games in London this summer has started her training-cum-competition in the United States with an outstanding performance. Competing in the Maui discus throwing in Hawaii against the reigning Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton, Krishna returned with a season’s best 63.67m but barely missed her personal best mark by 2 cm. The Indian thrower registered her PB of 63.69 two years ago, also in the United States, when placed second in a meet at Chula Vista, California. She came second again last night as Stephanie produced an American Record of 67.74m to win the above event.
Earlier this year Krishna Poonia began her season with a victory in the high altitude Potchefstroom, in South Africa, on March 5 with a modest throw of 58.22m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
16th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships
ONGC lifts overall championships
Patiala, 24 April 2012
The team from Dehradun-based Oil and Natural Gas Commission, an emerging force on Indian Athletics in recent years, took the overall championship title in the four-day 16th Federation Cup senior athletics championships which concluded this evening at the NSNIS grounds here with a whooping 9 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals. With a large number of their top athletes opted to compete in other teams defending champions Kerala state finished runners-up with 7-7-5.
Siddhanth Thingalaya, the wonder-hurdler from Maharashtra who is running under ONGC banner here, clocked an impressive 13.69 secs—the fastest by an Indian on the home soil—to win the men’s 110m hurdles. However his time on the evening final was well below the Olympic qualification norm of 13.60s as well as the Indian best 13.66s which he clocked while winning the Australian national championships at Melbourne on April 15.
“I have little bit disappointed as the Patiala track is my favourite one where I clocked my first national record of 13.81s two years ago. I shall certainly achieve the targeted time in the next few weeks” was his reaction after the race. The former Asian junior silver medallist is training in Australia since last year. Tamil Nadu hurdlers J. Surendhar and T. Balamurugan filled the other two places on the podium.
As expected Kerala’s C.T. Raji takes the top spot in women’s 100m hurdles clocking 14.61s—the slowest winning time in all the sixteen editions of the above championships!
Shot putter Saurabh Vij, who tossed the iron ball to a season’s best 19.80m during the first leg of Indian Grand Prix here two weeks ago and expected to attain the London grade today, also had a disappointing evening as he fouled in three of his series and could not go beyond 18.42m which fetched the gold to him.
In yet another keen contest, Kerala runner Sajeesh Joseph once again overpowered veteran Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) in the men’s 800m but barely missed the Olympic grade by just over 2 seconds in his winning time of 1:48.36.
Heptathlete Sushmita Singharoy, who had a hat-trick of wins in the FedCup (2006-08) after B.N. Sumavathy (1995-97) and J.J. Shobha (2002-04), extended here number of wins to four in this event after having skipped the previous edition at Ranchi in 2010. The Bengal-woman, who turned 28 just four weeks ago, however could gather only 5553 points to win her event today and thus fails to accomplish her dream of making to the second Olympics after Beijing-2008.
Although the winning performances of the final evening in many events were not so encouraging, many athletes in the women section have secured ‘double’ victories which including Haryana sprinter Manisha, UP distance runner Archana Pal, Kerala jumper M.A. Prajusha and ONGC’s middle-distance star Sinimole Paulose.
Chattisgarh won the men’s longer relay in 3:18.08 with the aid of Kerala-originated athletes. The women’s event had to be cancelled owing to lack of entries.
ONGC topped among the men with 86 points while Kerala stood first in the women’s division by pushing the medal-leader Uttar Pradesh (4-2-2) to second place on points (44 to 37) basis. The decision to award the championships based on points to six places came in to effect from this meet as approved in the last AGM of the federation at Manesar earlier this month.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Walkers brighten the day with record performances
Patiala, 23 April 2012
If Olympic qualification is the main purpose for those athletes whom competing here in the FedCup, then there are at least two of them returning home with disappointment even after having achieved it!
In the women’s 20 km walk, the first event of the day, Kushbir Kaur posted a new National Record with a time of 1:37:28. It was 16 secs faster than L. Deepmala Devi’s old record (1:37:44) set during the Asian race walking championships at Nomi City, Japan, two years ago. The 18-year-old Kushbir’s time this morning also well within the London Olympics “B” standard of 1:38:00. However the ONGC walker could not make the bus to London with today’s mark as the Indian championships are not one of the pre-designated meets to attain the qualifying grade for this year’s Olympic Games in race walking. In one such qualifying events—the Asian race walking championships at Nomi in March this year—Kushbir finished fifth clocking only 1:44:30.
The winner of the corresponding event for men, started 30 minutes later, also met with the same fate. Kerala walker K.T. Irfan has surprised the field when he completed the 20-lapper in an outstanding 1:22:14 which eclipsed his state-mate P.S. Jalan’s seven-year-old meet record of 1:30:17.3 and also came within the “A” standard for the Olympic Games which stood at 1:22:30. Hails from Areekode in Malappuram district and graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Devagiri, Irfan was the third Keralite to win a national title in the men’s 20 km walk after P.S. Biju and Jalan.
The men’s race today also witnessed impressive performances by Punjab’s Surinder Singh and Maniram Patel of Madhya Pradesh. They clocked 1:22:37 and 1:22:40 for the second and third places behind Irfan. If these trio along with Kushbir Kaur shall get another chance to compete in one of the races abroad, they would certainly make the cut.
Walkers Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh have already attained the “A” grade and one more from India can join with them with similar feat.
After a disappointing defeat last week during the second leg of Indian Grand Prix here on the same tracks, reigning Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham dipped under 50 secs for the first time in two years as he clocked 49.98s to win the 400m hurdles. Joseph, the World championships semi-finalist in 2007 at Osaka, however fails to accomplish his dream of making the Olympic team as his time this evening was 0.18 secs shy of the B-grade.
The hosts have some cheer as Bhupinder Kaur won the women’s race in 1:01.27, pushing the fancied Kerala hurdler C.T. Raji to second place (1:01.67).
Bineesh Jacob of Kerala was an easy victor in men’s pole vault with a height of 4.80m and Madhya Pradesh’s Ankit Sharma in the long jump with a leap of 7.79m. However the other side of the field saw keen contests in men’s hammer and javelin throws. UP lad Chandrodaya Narain Singh was the eventual winner in the ball and chain event as he pushed Harvinder Singh Dagar of ONGC to second spot in 67.78 to 67.01m in hammer throw. However the Dehradun-based team was joyous when spearman Rohit Kumar overwhelmed Haryana’s Rajender Singh 76.73 to 76.12m to take the title crown in the javelin throw.
As the top-rung distance running women of the country are currently training in Eldoret, Kenya, athletes from Uttar Pradesh had a clean sweep in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Haryana’s Jaiveer won the gold in men’s event timed 8:49.01.
Sprint relay teams from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were triumphant in the men and women sections respectively.
ONGC continue to lead the medal tally at the end of penultimate day with 5 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals, closely followed by Kerala which stood second with one gold lesser.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Kerala’s Jithin Thomas sailed to 2.20m high jump
Patiala, 22 April 2012
Kerala high jumper Jithin Thomas surprised everyone with a personal best 2.20m for the gold today. He barely missed the meet mark of 2.21m held by Bengal’s Harishankar Roy since 2007. Roy, sporting the Jharkhand colours now, however could not above 2.05m and shared the silver medals with B. Chethan of Karnataka and Jagdeep Singh of ONGC.
With Asian champion Mayookha Johny currently undergoing a training stint in Germany, her Kerala state- mate M.A. Prajusha was an easy victor with a modest 6.13m leap. Prajusha, the silver medallist in Commonwealth Games at Delhi two years ago, registered her best of the day on her second jump and had another 6.03m in third round but fouled four of her jumps including the opening one and thus could not make any fireworks as expected.
Earlier quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma delivered her best time in the women’s 400m (53.70s). However it was well below the Olympic B-standard of 52.30s. The reigning Inter-University champion had already represented the nation on a couple of occasions at the World Youth and Junior Championships as well as part of the bronze winning Indian relay quartet at the Asian Indoor Games in Macau five years ago. She is one of the top-rung athletes to make the Indian team for relay qualification in this year. However the performance of the other athletes who had finished behind Poovamma this evening was not so encouraging and hence put a big question about their London ambitions.
Poovamma, hails from Mangalore in Karnataka state, represented here the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. The ONGC is a tremendous supporter of Indian Athletics in recent years and already have a number of star athletes in its team including distance runner Kavita Raut and shot put ace Om Prakash Karhana. ONGC will be the main sponsor for Indian Athletics programme for the next five years.
As expected the men’s race was easily won by P.P. Kunhu Mohammed. However his winning time of 46.67s was slightly slower than his IGP winning effort (46.58s) here ten days ago.
Haryana’s Vijay Kumar clinched the gold in the ten-event decathlon with a noteworthy 7152 points. Like high jumper Jithin Thomas, the Haryana lad also graduated to top position from his silver medal in Ranchi two years ago.
At the end of day two, ONGC is leading the medal tally with 3 gold, 3 silver and a bronze medal.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Renjith triple jumped 16.85m to join the team for London Olympics!
Patiala, 21 April 2012
Tamil Nadu triple jumper Renjith Maheswary finally achieved the Olympic qualification as he landed on the sand pit at 16.85m—the exact distance for “B” qualification standard—in the opening day of 16th Federation Cup senior athletics championships which begun here at NSNIS grounds on Saturday.
Renjith started with a moderate 15.84m and went on to improve it with 16.51 and 16.56 in his next two rounds before made a foul on the fourth. His London qualification came on the fifth attempt and he went with no mark on his final round. Young Arpinder Singh was a distant second in 16.20m.
“My darling books his berth for London Olympics; thanks for your prayers” his wife and national pole vault record-holder Surekha elated in her comment on the Facebook. It was Renjith’s third win in the FedCup. He had earlier won the titles in 2005 and 2007.
Renjith, the former Asian champion and bronze medallist in Commonwealth Games at Delhi 2010, made an excellent come back after a forgettable season last year during which he crashed out in the qualifying rounds of World championships in Daegu, Korea, with no marks. He is determined to make amends this summer at the Olympic arena in London.
The Federation Cup currently underway at Patiala is the first major competition for the Indian aspirants wishing to gain the Olympic berth as well as a voyage to Thailand for next month’s Asian Grand Prix series.
In men’s discus throw ONGC’s Kripal Singh registered 58.59 to win the event. It may look as if a no mean achievement when compared to Vikas Gowda’s world leading 66.28m which he logged in the United States last week, however it was the third best winning mark in Fed Cup after Anil Kumar’s 59.04 (1997) and 59.55 (2000).
Maharashtra sprinter Krishna Kumar Rane (10.51 secs) piped defending champion Shameer Mon (10.54) to become the fastest man of the meet. However Haryana’s Manisa, winner of the previous edition in Ranchi two years ago, had successfully defends her title with a 11.93s clocking.
Javelin thrower Suman Devi proved her mettle once again with her sixth ever win in these championships with a new meet record 56.11m while Remya Revindran, represented Gujarat this time, vaulted to 3.40m for her victory in the women’s pole vault—an event which was cancelled due to lack of entries in the previous two editions. Karnataka’s Sahana Kumari recorded her fourth win in high jump with a Personal Best height of 1.88m.
Earlier in the morning, Archana Pal of Uttar Pradesh and Sandeep Kumar of Madhya Pradesh took the title-crown in the 5.000m race for women and men respectively.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Adille J. Sumariwalla: from passion to profession!
Delhi 19th April, 2012: Born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on a New Year’s day fifty-four years ago, Adille Sumariwalla, the newly elected President of Athletics Federation of India was a reputed national sprint champion, Olympian and Arjuna awardee.
“A new small, tough, ambitious and determined young man had just joined the Juhu Sports Club. When we went to pick him from his 11th floor home, we did not have to call out to him because his father wouldn't have allowed him to do anything with Athletics.
So first the track-suit then the spikes would come flying out of the window, sometimes a bag. But when the young man came down to meet us, it look as if he was going out to the library or a friend’s house to do some cramming for his board exams at least that's what his father thought.
His father never ever found out why he never became an Ivy League student but he did find out that his son had become the nation's fastest sprinter through “The Times of India”. The name of that young sprinter was Adille Sumariwalla and I am honoured to call him a friend”.
The above story posted on Facebook by Clint Martin, a teammate of Adille in his heydays as an athlete, might very well taken as a testimony for his dedication and hard-work to achieve laurels.
Statistically speaking Adille has won the national title in 100m for a record eleven times. Wonder if it has anything to do with his eleventh floor residence in Mumbai! No other Indian went nearer to his seven straight titles in the Inter-State championships from 1979 to 1985 for his home-state Maharashtra. He got his four other wins from the Open Nationals of 1980-81 and 1984-85. He clocked his career best 10.4 secs at Calicut in 1982.
At the international level, Adille has won the inaugural South Asian Federation Games gold in 1984 at Kathmandu. However his first international appearance came in 1978 at the Indo-USSR tests. The next year he went to World University Games in Mexico and also took part at the Asian Track & Field Championships in Tokyo. He got his Olympic berth in 1980 at Moscow and competed at the Asian Games when Delhi hosted it two years later.
When he finally retired from the competition tracks, Adille already gathered 17 international as well as 44 national championship medals. For his achievements he was honoured with Arjuna Award in 1985.
Like every other Parsi, Adille started his career with the TATA’s in Telco. Graduated from the Asian Institute of Management, he is now running his own business in Clear Channel Mumbai Pvt. Ltd. Besides this, he is also on the Board of Directors in the fabulous Mid-day group.
Blended with his knowledge in sports and administration, Adille is now getting ready for the BIG job in hands!
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Annual General Body Meeting.
Manesar 14th April 2012:
The Annual General Meeting of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) which started today was attended by 67 Delegates from various States and Boards recognized & affiliated to it. There was lot of discussions concluded on day one and will further continue for tomorrow i.e. 15th April 2012 which includes developments issues, particularly to focus on Junior level athletics.
The item IV of the Agenda was the Election of the Office Bearers, for which process started as per the Constitution of AFI dated 29th March 2012 and nominations were received, and were scrutinised by AFI appointed Returning Officer Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) J.D.Kapoor. He conducted the election today as an independent Returning Officer.
The Meeting was also attended by the Observer from Indian Olympic Association Sh. Kuldeep Vats, and two more Observers from the Government of India namely Sh. Roque Dias and Sh. S. K. Mendiratta. The Meeting was attended by 29 States of the 31 States and Boards like Railways, Services, Association of Indian Universities and Police.
It is for the first time that an Olympian and Arjuna awardee Mr. Adille J. Sumariwalla, has taken the reign of AFI and was unanimously elected as President. Mr. C.K.Valson, Ex-Athlete, International Technical Official, Technical Delegate for Guangzhou Asian Games and Competition Manager for Commonwealth Games 2010 was unanimously elected as Hony. Secretary and Mr. Satyanarayana, Ex-International Athlete was elected as Treasurer unanimously. Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) J.D.Kapoor has appreciated the process and informed the members that the election has been done transparently and as per the Constitution. The President, Secretary and Treasurer have all been elected for the first time.
The AFI also reviewed its developmental policies and will intensify its efforts to achieve better results in the future. The State Units has also presented their activity reports by way of power point presentation.
The members showed their concerned about overage participation and doping, and it was resolved that AFI will crack down strongly on the offenders.
The AFI will further discuss regarding the modernization of the Athletics Meets and the National Inter District Competitions tomorrow.
The Chairman of various Committees will also be the member of Executive Council as per the AFI Constitution. Olympian and Padma Shree Sh. Gurbachan Singh Randhawa has been made Chairman of Selection Committee and Padma Shree Ms. Jyoti Moy Sikdar as Chairman of Women’s Commission.
The other members nominated to the Executive Committee are Padma Shree Ms. P.T. Usha, Padma Shree Bahadur Singh, Padma Shree Ms. Shiny Wilson and Droncharya Awardee Shri J.S Saini.
The list of the members unanimously elected on the basis of the nominations filed, is attached.
/AFI/
Vikas Gowda posts World Leading 66.28m in United States!
Norman, USA – 14 April 2012
India’s national record-holder and silver medallist in the recent Commonwealth Games, Vikas Gowda, surprised everyone with a leading performance in the World this season when he hurled the discus to a splendid distance of 66.28m.
The above mark came in his fourth round throw at the Old Style Discus Challenge in Norman, Oklahoma. Vikas started his season with a winning note in Mesa, Arizona, with a credible 63.05m. However his mark during the last night surpassed all his previous records as the series read as—Foul, 62.39, 63.81, 66.28, 65.83, Foul
With this performance Gowda attained the “A” standard for the Olympic Games in London and bettered his five-year-old national record 64.96m set in Salinas, California, on 17 May 2007.
Last year Vikas made it to the World championships final at Daegu, Korea, where he finished seventh after recorded 64.05m. Everyone expects further fireworks from him as the Olympics are fast approaching. Hope Vikas will emulate the ‘Bhima’ of yesteryear Praveen Kumar and make a podium-finish in London!
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Annual General Body Meeting
Manesar 13 April: The Annual General Meeting of the Federation is going to be held at Maneser, Haryana to discuss athletics policy and to review the AFI policies, technology advancement for the working and technical conduct of athletics competitions. Delegates have started arriving to attend the meeting & the list of delegates so far received by 13th April 2012 along with list of the candidates contesting AFI elections to be held on 14th April 2012 at Maneser, Haryana can be seen on the AFI website.
Indian Grand Prix-2
Renjith improved his season best despite missing the Olympic grade
Patiala, 12 April 2012
Commonwealth bronze medallist Renjith Maheswary put up a better show on the second leg of Indian Grand Prix in NSNIS grounds this evening. However his best of the day—16.70m—fell short of the Olympic B-grade by 15 cm. Renjth, however, happy about his evening’s performance and confident of joining the Indian squad to London Olympics in the weeks to come.
He has improved his season best with a 16.43m first round jump before leaping to 16.70m on the second. His next two jumps were declared foul. Renjith (26) logged 16.57 and 16.54m in the final two attempts.
The men’s shot put, in which the ONGC athlete Saurabh Vij recorded 19.80m four days ago, was not conducted in the second leg since the coaches are of the opinion to save his best efforts for the Federation Cup senior athletics championships scheduled to be held here in less than ten days from now (April 21-24).
On the track, Kunhu Muhammed clocked a personal best 46.58 secs to extend his winning streak in the men’s 400m. His previous best (46.86s) was registered on the same track when he was winning the Inter-State championship here two years ago. In the women’s race also M.R. Poovamma had won her second consecutive win with a season leading 54.36s—her third best performance ever.
Former national junior champion Jithin Paul (22) inflicted a defeat on reigning Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham in 400m hurdles (50.44 to 50.69 secs). However long jumper Ankit Sharma (19) was lucky enough to retain the top spot in his pet event, in spite of a close call from a much experienced Shamsher Pratap Singh (7.62 to 7.61m).
Ravinder Rautela and Rajinder Singh were the other two athletes to retain their titles from the first leg of this year’s IGP by taking the 800m and javelin throw respectively.
Former Asian champion Sinimol Paulose found no opposition in 800m and was an easy victor with a modest 2:06.28—her first major competition after an year’s hiatus.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Indian Grand Prix-2012
Saurabh Vij’s 19.80m toss highlights in the first leg of IGP
Patiala, 8 April 2012
Just one throw was enough for the ONGC shot putter to stand tall among the contestants in the NSNIS grounds here where the first leg of Indian Grand Prix begun this evening as a build-up competition towards the Olympic Games.
Saurabh faultered in his first three attempts before registering 19.80m--his second legal best ever—on the fourth round. His next two throws also landed out of sector. Vij had a remarkable 20.65m while winning the Delhi state championship in 2010, which however not ratified as a national mark. Saurabh hence recorded a legal best of 19.81m in the same year in Patiala when finished second behind Om Prakash Singh during the Inter-State championships. A former Commonwealth Youth Games victor and Asian junior silver medallist, he is confident of making the London squad at the right moment in the coming weeks.
In other events, reigning Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham had a stiff challenge from his railway teammate Avin Thomas. However experienced played its part as Joseph took the title in a photo-finish, 51.13 to 51.14 secs, in 400m hurdles.
Former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary, struggling hard to make a come-back, triple jumped his best in two years to secure the top spot with a mark of 16.38m. He was a bronze medallist in the Commonwealth Games at Delhi two years ago with a national record 17.07m.
National Games champion Ankit Sharma (19) opened his season with a victory in long jump (7.68m) while Karnataka’s M.R. Poovamma conquered the 400m—the only event held for women this evening.
Other notable winners include Ravinder Rautela (800m), Kunhi Mohammed (400m) and Rajinder Singh (Javelin throw).
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Seema Antil joins London bandwagon with a 62.60m throw
Irvine, USA – 24 March 2012
Seema Antil, the double commonwealth games medallist and national record-holder in discus throw, was the latest addition to the list of Indian athletes who had achieved the qualification mark for the Olympic Games in London this summer.
The 28-year-old Haryana woman set off the discus to a remarkable 62.60m on her very first throw in the Spring Break Collegiate Invitation track and field meet held at University of California, Irvine, in the United States. Taking part in her first competition of the year, Seema was under compulsion to throw above 62m—the “A” qualification standard for London—since Krishna Poonia already achieved it during her training stint at another US town Portland last year. In each event a maximum of three athletes with A-qualification can take part at the Olympics from a nation, if not one with a B-standard.
Seema’s second throw went out-of-sector and she passed the remaining four throws on Saturday (24 Mar). The former world junior bronze medallist is training under Tony Ciarelli for the past six months. “I am feeling very good. I feel I could have thrown the disc over 64m today but the coach insist me to preserve my best for the Olympics” was her reaction after attaining the Olympic berth.
The Sonepat-born Seema is one of the Indian athletes sponsored by Mittal Champions Trust to receive specialised training in abroad. “I am thankful to MCT for giving this opportunity which helped me to improve my performance” she explained citing her first throw over 60m after six years! Her previous 60+ mark came when she won a silver medal in Commonwealth Games at Melbourne six years ago with a throw of 60.56m. In fact her throw today (62.60m) was her fourth-best ever in career. In 2004 she achieved seven throws over 60m with a personal best measured to 64.84m during her training-cum-competition stint in Kiev, Ukraine, and a national record 64.64m at Chennai the same year. She filled the podium with Krishna Poonia and Harwant Kaur as a bronze medallist in Commonwealth Games at Delhi two years ago with a modest 58.46m.
With our elite distance running women currently undergo training in Kenya, more number of athletes are expected to gain London qualification in the weeks to come.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Indian Athletics Grand Prix-2012
Delhi 23 March: The first Leg of Indian Athletics Grand Prix Series- 2012 will be held on 8th April, 2012 at NS NIS Patiala. This will be followed by 2nd Indian Athletics Grand Prix Series -2012 on 12th April, 2012 at the same venue.
In men’s category the events will be 400m, 800m, 110m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Javelin Throw and Shot Put. While in women’s category the events will be 400m, 800m, High Jump and Long Jump.
The athletes performing well during the series of Indian Athletics Grand prix 2012 will be selected for participation in the Asian Athletics Grand Prix Series which is scheduled to be held in Thailand on 8th, 11th & 14th May, 2012.
/AFI/
Asian Race Walking Championships
Gurmeet Singh got silver and Baljinder attained Olympic qualification
Nomi City, Japan – 11 March 2012
India’s national record-holder Gurmeet Singh, who already attained the Olympic qualification with a 1:22:05 clocking in Dublin last year, had won a silver medal in the annual Asian 20 Km Race Walking championships held at Nomi City this morning.
Gurmeet clocked an impressive 1:20:23 during the inter-railway championships at Bhubaneswar last month. Today he timed a commendable 1:21:31 for the silver medal. Gurmeet led race until the last kilometre and barely missed the gold in just 9 seconds to China’s Zhu Chundong (1:21:22). For Chundong it was a personal best as he improved nearly 7 minutes from his previous record. Gurmeet finished seventh here last year. Korean walker Byun Young Jun finished third for the bronze medal in 1:21:42.
Perhaps what’s amazing everyone was the achievement of the other Indians in the race. Baljinder Singh, who finished sixth overall, recorded 1:22:12 to dip under the “A” qualification standard for the Olympic Games in London (1:22:30). The 25-year-old Baljinder, hails from Dera Bassi, about 20 km from Chandigarh on the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway. A daily stretch from his town, which is associated with the popular freedom-fighter Baba Prithvi Singh Azad, to DAV College in Chandigarh has moulded him an Olympic prospect. En route to Nomi, Baljinder won the Indian trials at Patiala on February 15 with a noteworthy 1:22:01.
A maximum of three athletes with “A” qualification performance can represent a country in an event at the Olympic Games.
Besides the above two Indians, Surinder Singh also timed creditably in 1:23:53 well ahead of Abbal Singh Rana (1:27:50).
Although only one athlete from a country is allowed to compete in each category (men / women) at the Asian race walking championships, India and Iran obtained special permission to field additional entries to attain Olympic qualification as the Nomi event was one of the pre-designated races to achieve the London grade.
In the women’s race, Deepmala Devi finished outside the podium with her fourth place finish in 1:42:01. China’s Ding Huiquin took the top spot in 1:30:14. Rei Inoue of Japan (1:34:06) and Nguyen Thi Thanh of Vietnam (1:35:13) had won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Among the other women walkers from India, national champion Khusbir Kaur finished 5th overall in 1:44:30 while Gaurav Kumari did not finish the race.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
14th IAAF World Indoor Championships
Mayookha leaped 13.95m at World Indoors, but fails to make the finals
Istanbul, Turkey – 9 March 2012
Mayookha Johny, India’s Olympic qualifier in triple jump, leaped to a distance of 13.95m in the qualifying rounds of 14th IAAF World Indoor Championships which begun at the Atakoy Athletics Arena in the Trukish capital Istanbul this morning.
Started with a jump of 13.74m in the first round, which erased M.A. Prajusha’s two year old Indian indoor best of 13.42m from the books, and went on to improve it further on her next attempt. However she could not muster a valid mark on her final try which forced her out from the finals of the event.
It was the second national indoor mark Mayookha snatched within a month. Earlier she bettered Anju Bobby George’s nine year old long jump record with a leap of 6.44m at Ludwigshafen (Germany) on February 11.
In Olympics Games and World (outdoor) championships the top-12 athletes from the qualifying competition can enter the finals. However in the Indoor Worlds, only the top-8 advances to the final. Mayookha finished fifth in the group-B qualifiers and twelfth overall, thus dashed her hopes to make the cut.
Mayookha was the lone athlete to represent India at Istanbul. She has already qualified for the Olympic Games at London with her 14.11m bronze medal winning jump and national record at last year’s Asian championships in Kobe, Japan.
Double world champion (2007 and 2009) Yargeris Savigne of Cuba has finished ahead of Mayookha in group-B (and overall eighth) to enter another world indoor finals in which she was a gold medallist in 2008 and runner-up last time! Another Cuban by birth, Aldama Yamile, who acquired a Sudanese citizenship in 2004 and then migrated to Great Britain just two years ago leads the qualifiers with her group-A best performance of 14.62m ahead of defending champion Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan, who registered 14.39m this morning.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
5th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships
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Hangzhou, China – 19 February 2012 Although Indian athletes did not win any medals today, Suriya Loganathan made an incredible run to clock an impressive Indian indoor best of 9:09.81 for her 8th place in women's 3000m. Her time was the second best by an Indian woman under any conditions behind Molly Chacko's 9:06.42 from 1994 Hiroshima Asiad. Hails from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu and employed in Railways, Suriya was running alongside some of the world class runners. The event was won by last year’s world championship finalist Shitaye Eshete of Bahrain in a new meet record 8:49.27. Indians had near miss to a medal today as former Asian champion P.J. Vinod, who was trailing in third place on the opening day, finished fourth in men’s heptathlon with 4907 points. The women’s 800m race saw another fourth place by Tudu Pratima who clocked a moderate 2:13.42. Compete with reigning Asian Games and World Junior champion Mutaz Essa Barshim from Bahrain, Jithin Thomas finished fifth in high jump with a height of 2.15m. Barshim went on to clear the Asian indoor best and World Leading 2.37 for the gold. In women’s pentathlon, Niksy Joseph (3486) and Navpreet Kaur (3434) finished fifth and sixth places respectively. Asian champion Mayookha Johny could have an easy winner in long jump here, but preferred some rest before the World Indoor Championships at Istanbul next month and thus the national squad missed a chance to bring home a gold medal. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Prem Kumar wins bronze medal on first day of the Asian Indoor championships Hangzhou, China – 18 February 2012
For long jumper Kumaravel Premkumar poverty did not deter the path to success. Hails from a remote area in Tamil Nadu, the 19-year-old athlete had attained fame two years ago when he become the national youth champion with a 7.86m leap.
A naturally talented athlete, he was first identified by Mr. Suresh, a physical education teacher in St. Antony’s school at Thanjavur. Prem was a champion athlete in 100m sprint, high and long jumps at state level competitions for school students. It was one of these meets Mr. Nagarajan from Chennai-based Prime Sports Academy spotted his potential and brought him to the state capital for further training. Pursuing his studies in the popular Pachaiyappa’s higher secondary school in the state capital, Prem made tremendous progress under his new-found coach to win at national level. A spirited Prem also taken part in senior competitions and claimed a bronze medal in the National Games at Ranchi, last year.
Noticed his thundering speed on the long jump runway, coach Shivili invited him to join the national camp in Patiala. Although Prem had a break for winter, his training under the expert paid off well as he landed to a new high of 7.92m at Bangalore during the trials for Asian Indoor meet and claimed his ticket to glory immediately.
However Prem’s success has not come easy. He lost his father at the age of one and his mother does petty jobs in a nearby church in Orathanadu to raise him till now. Now that Prem delivered a splendid mark at the continental event, he would be expected to gain support from both Government and corporate sponsors.
Today at the 5th Asian Indoor championships here, Prem Kumar got a bronze medal with a leap of 7.62m. Ling Qing of China also registered the same distance in the finals but Prem was adjudged third as he had a better series than the Chinese. However the Indian missed the silver medal by just one centimetre to Rikiya Saruyama of Japan. Saruyama was the champion in this event two years ago at Teheran. The gold in this event went to Li Jinzhe from host nation who leapt 7.98m.
Prem Kumar’s mark today—7.62m—however bettered the Indian indoor record of 7.49m held by Maha Singh which he sets during the Asian Indoor Games at Pattaya, Thailand, seven years ago.
Apart from Prem’s medal, the other Indian athletes have all finished outside the podium on the opening day of the two-day championships. Metric miler Kariappa Ranjan was fourth in 1500m (4:00.03), barely missing the bronze medal by 0.2 secs, while his compatrior Ravinder Singh Rautela finished sixth 1.4 secs behind. In the women’s race S.R. Bindu finished sixth (4:20.92).
High jumper Sahana Kumari also finished fourth with a height of 1.80m as Zheng Xingjuan was the home victor at 1.92m. Pole vaulter Bineesh Jacob had a ‘no mark’ against his name. However former asian indoor champion P.J. Vinod was trailing at third place in men’s heptathlon after the completion of four events on the first day.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Walkers delivered credible show in trials!
The Athletics Federation of India conducted trials on race walking at NSNIS grounds here this morning.
Keen contests were witnessed in 20 Km walk for both men and women. The first four walkers in the men’s race came under 1 hour and 23 minutes with Baljinder Singh, seventh at Asian Games in Guangzhou, clocked 1::22:00.86 for the first place. Second placed Surinder Singh was 8.7 secs behind while Abbal Singh Rana took the third spot a second later. Junior walker Maniram Patel was in gallant fourth place in 1::22:37.26.
In another closely contested race for women walkers, reigning national and Inter-University champion Khushbeer Kaur outclassed the fancied Gaurav Kumari (Police) by 10.79 secs to win the 20k event in 1::37:46.79. Gaurav Kumari was second in last year’s National Games at Ranchi and was 23rd at the Asian championships last year.
Today’s trials were conducted to select the national team to the Asian race walking championships to be held in Nomi City, Japan, next month.
/ AFI /
Indian Athletics Calendar 2012
New Delhi – 10 February 2012
The Athletics Federation of India finalised the dates and venues for various national and regional championships to be held in 2012.
The national athletics competitions for 2012 is scheduled to begin with the Indian Grand Prix in Delhi (8 Apr) and complete in the historic place of Chapra in Bihar, where the National Cross-country Championships will be organised in December.
Pune is hosting the National Junior Federation Cup in May 8-10 to select the Indian Team for the Asian junior championships, which will be held in Colombo during June 9-12.
At senior level, Hyderabad will play host to the much important Inter-State championships in June 23-26 and Chennai to conduct the Open Nationals during September. The inter-state meet will be the last opportunity for the Indian aspirants trying to gain an Olympic berth in 2012.
Time and again Karnataka is entrusted with the Junior Nationals, the important competition for the grass-root athletes of the country, in October.
Click here to view Athletics Calendar.
/ AFI /
National Cross-country Championships
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Railway women and hosts Maharastra dominated the proceedings Pune, Maharasthra – 22 January 2012 First held at Lucknow in September 1967, the National Cross-country championships evolved significantly in the past 45 years. What surprises everyone was the Services team’s failure in securing the men’s team title in a place where the Army Sports Institute is situated. Rajasthan, actually aided by Army athletes like V.L. Dangi and Kheta Ram, moved to the top spot in the men’s division followed by Railways and Services. National 10,000m champion Suresh Kumar Patel from Uttar Pradesh takes the individual honours in the 12 Km course with a time of 36:25.1. Railways’ women runners once again proved their mettle by annexed the team title in that section. Lalita Babar, the top-finisher among the Indian women in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon only last Sunday, had just recovered from her full marathon effort to lead her team to the title crown in 29:11.5. Local girl Monika Athre gave the required challenge to Lalita before finishing a close second in 29:12.4. Hosts Maharashtra claimed five of the eight team titles and their athletes stood top on the podium in four races. U.P. boy Amresh Kumar Yadav won the 3K title for under-16 years while his teammate Parul Chaudhary triumphed in the youth girls’ 4K event. Teams like Kerala, which dominates the younger age categories last year, could not do so this time as many of their athletes were competing at the National School Games in Ludhiana. Leading Results: MEN (12 KM): 1. Suresh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 36:25.1, 2. V.L. Dangi (Rajasthan) 36:30.5, 3. Indrajeet Patel (Uttar Pradesh) 36:32.1, 4. Sandeep Kumar (Railways) 36:49.8, 5. Kheta Ram (Rajasthan) 37:03.1, 6. Soji Mathew (Railways) 37:09.8; Team: 1. Rajasthan, 2. Railways, 3. Services, 4. Maharashtra, 5. Uttar Pradesh, 6. Police; JUNIOR MEN (8 KM): 1. Chandrakant Manwadkar (Maharashtra) 25:29.6, 2. Uttara Kumar Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 25:35.2, 3. Vikas Malik (Haryana) 25:38.6, 4. Datta Borse (Maharashtra) 25:41.0, 5. Shri Om (Karnataka) 25:43.7, 6. Harish S. Koranga (Uttarakhand) 26:15.1; Team: 1. Maharashtra, 2. Uttar Pradesh, 3. Karnataka, 4. Uttarakhand, 5. Madhya Pradesh, 6. Delhi; YOUTH BOYS (6 KM): 1. Dadasaheb Vaybhit (Maharashtra) 19:42.1, 2. Jagdish Patel (Uttar Pradesh) 19:49.1, 3. Vikash Kumar (Haryana) 20:04.4, 4. Mukesh Jat (Madhya Pradesh) 20:05.3, 5. Satyavan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) 20:25.3, 6. Rajinder Singh (Delhi) 20:42.7; Team: 1. Madhya Pradesh, 2. Delhi, 3. Gujarat, 4. Chattisgarh; U-16 BOYS (3 KM): 1. Amresh Kumar Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 9:27.8, 2. Kisan Tadvi (Maharashtra) 9:34.5, 3. Jugal Kishore (Uttar Pradesh) 9:39.6, 4. P.R. Rahul (Kerala) 9:46.6, 5. Chandramani (Madhya Pradesh) 9:51.5, 6. Bhoru Pardhi (Maharashtra) 10:02.6; Team: 1. Maharashtra, 2. Kerala, 3. Gujarat; WOMEN (8 km): 1. Lalita Babar (Railways) 29:11.5, 2. Monika Athre (Maharashtra) 29:12.4, 3. Swati Gadhave (Railways) 29:13.8, 4. Priyanka Singh Patel (Railways) 29:18.3, 5. Kiran Tiwari (Railways) 29:36.6, 6. Ritu Pal (Railways) 29:52.3; Team: 1. Railways, 2. Maharashtra, 3. Punjab, 4. West Bengal, 5. Kerala, 6. Uttar Pradesh; JUNIOR WOMEN (6 KM): 1. Janabai Hirve (Maharashtra) 22:29.4, 2. Fulan Khatun (West Bengal) 22:29.9, 3. V.V. Sobha (Kerala) 22:34.1, 4. Sahanara Khatun (West Bengal) 22:39.7, 5. Pooja Varade (Maharashtra) 23:11.4, 6. Archana Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 23:20.6; Team: 1. Maharashtra, 2. West Bengal, 3. Kerala, 4. Uttar Pradesh, 5. Madhya Pradesh, 6. Himachal Pradesh; YOUTH GIRLS (4 KM): 1. Parul Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 15:05.9, 2. Shradha Waman (Maharashtra) 15:07.3, 3. Priti (Haryana) 15:41.2, 4. Dimple Singh (Chattisgarh) 16:03.1, 5. K.L. Kochuthrasia (Kerala) 16:09.3, 6. M.P. Safeeda (Kerala) 16:10.7; Team: 1. Maharashtra, 2. Uttar Pradesh, 3. Kerala, 4. Himachal Pradesh; U-16 GIRLS (3 KM): 1. Anjana Thamke (Maharashtra) 10:32.1, 2. Durga Deore (Maharashtra) 11:28.3, 3. Rameshwari Palwe (Maharasthra) 11:35.8, 4. Mamata Kharwade (Maharashtra) 11:44.7, 5. R. Thushara (Kerala) 11:49.3, 6. Sudha Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 12:05.7; Team: 1. Maharashtra, 2. Himachal Pradesh. /Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Ram Singh Yadav joined Olympic qualifiers
Mumbai – 15 January 2012
Army lad Ram Singh Yadav joined the list of Indian athletes who have qualified for this year’s Olympic Games in London when he clocked an impressive 2 hrs 16 min 59 secs to finish twelfth in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon here on Sunday. It was indeed a blessing in disguise for Yadav as he missed a chance to gain an entry in to the Indian Olympic team for Beijing four years ago by just four seconds.
Yadav was the eighth Indian athlete to achieve the Olympic standard. The previous seven who did it last year are—Krishna Poonia (discus throw), Mayookha Johny (triple jump) and Tintu Luka (800m) among women, Vikas Gowda (discus throw), Om Prakash Singh (shot put), Gurmeet Singh and Babubhai Panucha (both 20km walk) among men. Of which both Krishna Poonia and Gurmeet Singh attained the “A” standard while others went past the “B” grade.
Ram Singh also attained the “B” grade in Mumbai, which is 2:18:00 while the “A” norm stands at 2:15:00. His teammate Elam Singh however was just short of it when he crossed the finish-line at 2:18:27.
For Olympics a maximum number of three athletes in an event with “A” standards or one athlete with “B” grade in an event is allowed to take part from a country. In case of the 20 km race walking event, though both Gurmeet and Babubhai attained the qualification only one athlete is able to represent the nation. In other words, Panucha also needs to achieve the “A” standard in order to make the voyage to London along with Gurmeet Singh. Same is the case for Elam Singh and other Indian marathoners, including Ram Singh Yadav, if the country is intend to field more than one athlete in this event in the Olympic Games. Olympic qualification for marathon and walking races are need to be achieved in certain pre-designated races around the world.
Athletics Federation of India is making necessary efforts to send the athletes abroad to take part in such events so that more number of sportspersons can able to represent India at London.
India's last appearance in the Olympic Marathon race came in 1980 at Moscow. The best Indian performance to date was achieved by Shivnath Singh when he finished a credible eleventh place at Montreal four years earlier.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
27th National Junior Athletics Championships
Haryana halted Kerala’s unbeaten run to crown overall champions
Ranchi, Jharkhand – 4 November 2011
Congratulation guys, you did better this time” was Kerala’s reaction when Haryana state emerged as overall champions in the 27th National Junior Athletics Championship which concluded here at Birsa Munda Stadium this evening.
Kerala, the sportive southern state, was unbeaten since 1998 when Kochi hosted the junior nationals for the first time and had won the overall champion title for a record fourteen times in a row. Newly crowned Haryana led the medal tally with 27 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze medals followed by Kerala (23-23-20) and Tamil Nadu (15-12-21). Haryana’s success mainly came through their boys who grabbed 18 gold medals while Kerala girls contributed 19 golds to their state.
As in the past three days, Friday’s action also started with a record note when UP boy Inderjeet Patel secured a distance double while posting a new meet mark of 14:25.61 to win the junior men 5000m. His teammate Manoj Yadav improved another record when hurled the javelin to 70.61m.
In the youth boys’ 3000m run Harish Koranga of Uttarakhand came very close to Inderjeet Patel’s meet mark when timed 8:28.96 for the gold. Haryana lad Surender Singh tossed the 5 kg iron ball to a new distance of 18.67m in the morning’s shot put finals to send an early warning to everyone that his state is going to claim the trophy later today.
Paschim Banga’s Asesh Chandra Roy improved 1 cm to Kerala jumper Jithin C. Thomas’s meet mark of 1.98m in boys u-16 high jump event, for another double to add his long jump victory from the opening day.
Asian Youth Games champion Namita Kabat cheered the home-crowed with her win over 800m in the junior women category. Maharashtrian Monika M. Athar won her second gold through a noteworthy 10:00.41 clocking in 3000m. She took the 5K title during the first day of the meet.
Kerala’s national cross-country champion M.D. Thara became victor in youth girls 3000m. Delhi boy Ashwani Sharma delivered a sprint double when he crossed first the finishline in 200m this afternoon. Earlier he pocketed the 100m gold in junior men. The same was the case with Tamil Nadu sprinter B. Karthikeyan in u-16 group. Among the girls, R. Varsha ofKarnataka was the last athlete to claim the second gold of the meet through her 200-400m combination.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Spearman Rajesh sets new mark as youth athletes continue to prevail
Ranchi, Jharkhand – 3 November 2011
Maharashtra’s Rajesh Kumar, who finished second in the recent inter-zonal championships at Bhopal, upgraded to gold status in late evening on Wednesday when he hurled the spear to a new distance of 72.25m in youth boys’ javelin throw which erased UP boy Manoj Yadav’s meet and national mark of 71.96m set last year from the record books.
Just few minutes before the above mentioned phenomenal performance, another youth boy V. Praveen Muthukumaran garnered his second gold of the day through a 7.27m leap in long jump. The athlete from Tamil Nadu had earlier won the 100m with a record 10.75 secs clocking on the second day’s competition in the ongoing 27th National Junior championships here. Praveen was a silver medallist in long jump in last year’s edition of Junior nationals at Bangalore.
The Thursday morning programme has started with yet another record show in the youth division when Haryana walker Kuldeep recorded an excellent 42:58.1 over the 10 km course to extend his state’s supremacy in this event. Kuldeep had been the eighth athlete from Haryana to win the u-18 title in race walking.
Duregesh posts national junior mark
Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Durgesh Kumar Pal had no match in his favourite 400m hurdles. Moving in to junior men category for the first time Durgesh running over the barriers in perfect style to register a new national junior best of 50.86 secs. Fresh from his victory in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Douglas this September, the Maharashtraboy revealed his ambition to make another podium finish next year at global stage in the World Junior Championships.
Among the budding athletes who made their first step in the nationals, Anilkumar Sahoo of Maharashtra caught everyone’s attention as he raised the bar in u-14 boys’ high jump to 1.85m, a national best in that age-group. Bengal boy Tapas Roy also bettered the meet mark with a clearance of 1.80m for the silver. TN jumper Arthi and Melva George fromKerala were tied for the top spot in the girls division.
Second successive title for Mahalakshmi
In girls under-16 discus throw M. Mahalakshmi had won the gold with her last round throw which measured to 35.65m from compatriot K. Subhashini, who had an early lead with 34.81m. Incidentally Mahalakshmi was second in the last edition of the nationals behind commonwealth youth games bronze medallist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon. Trained under former LIC thrower RM. Narayanan, the TN girl took her first-ever title at the national level competition through her victory in Bhopal inter-zonal championships this year.
Kerala athletes regained the junior women triple jump event after two years. Shilpa Chacko and P.S. Savitha were 1-2 with their jumps over 12.78 and 12.41m respectively. The 4x100m relay quartet of Arathy, Adheena, Savitha and Mareena retained the gold for their state clocking a modest 48.53s. Kerala was unbeaten in this event since 2002 and today’s win marked their winning streak to eleven!
In the medley relay for youth girls, Tamil Nadu team posted a new national mark in 2:13.87 while S.N. Mohammed Salahuddin took the u-18 triple jump honours as expected with a last round 15.09m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Praveen led youth domination on second day
Ranchi, Jharkhand – 2 November 2011
Tamil Nadu sprinter V. Praveen Muthukumaran and Bihar’s international Sunanda Sarkar lived-up to expectations to win the marquee event of the day—100m—in youth boys and girls divisions respectively. Praveen, who clocked an outstanding 10.59 secs to win the south zone meet at Hyderabad in mid August, ran like a spitfire to win the under-18 title in the national inter-zonal championship at Bhopal thereafter in a superb 10.75s. Surprisingly he returned the same time (10.75s) again this evening for a new record in 27th National junior championships here to add another feather in his cap. Kerala’s Jijin Vijayan also clocked a credible 10.80s for the silver while another TN athlete Augustine Yesudas finished third in 11s. Tamil Nadu’s success story in this event began at Kottayam in 1967 when the u-18 division was first introduced. Madras state’s Swaminathan become the first champion in 11.2 secs. Several others followed the glory after him.
Sunanda, represented the nation in this year’s World Youth Championships at Lille (France), missed the 10-year-old meet mark of 12.10s held by Chitra K. Soman since 2001. The Bihari girl however posted a personal best 12.14s for today’s victory. Bengal’s Ruma Sarkar was a distant second in 12.31s. Orissa girl Dutee Chand successfully defends her title in u-16 division with a modest 12.19s clocking.
As like yesterday, the second day’s proceedings begun with a meet record when Haryana lad Ashish Rohilla walked 10 km in 43:40.7 for the junior men’s title. The honour went to Pooja Jat of Maharashtra in junior women (54:27.4).
Kerala hurdler Pinto Mathew halted neighbouring Tamil Nadu’s monarchy in junior men’s 110m hurdles. Pinto’s winning time of 14.12s was 0.20 faster than his TN rival J. Thiyagarajan. In the youth girls 100m hurdles, favourite Meghana Shetty of Karnataka missed the crown by a whisker when Punjab’s Sumandeep Kaur pip her on the post 14.65 to 14.66s.
Sinju Prakash (Kerala) defends u-18 pole vault after scaling a new height of 3.30m.
Time and again youth athletes delivered better performances at the Junior nationals in recent times. The same was the case here as the marks delivered by youth athletes were amazingly in high order than their senior teammates.
On the field, Maria Jaison of Kerala took the girls u-14 long jump title in 5.18m which is however a no mean effort when compared to the national record 5.82m set by TN star Rochella Macfarlane last year. Incidentally Haryana lace Kaushalya won the junior women long jump gold with a leap of 5.87m. Haryana athletes continue to triumph with more golds todays. Hammer thrower Jyoti went home with a junior women gold (45.92m) while her name-sake got another in u-16 girls’ discus throw (37.37m).
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Harshith sailed to a stunning height
Ranchi, Jharkhand – 1 November 2011
The 27th National Junior athletics championship begun here at Birsa Munda Stadium with a record as international Inderjeet Patel representingUttar Pradesh clocked an impressive 30:03.17 to win the Junior Men’s 10000m race. Patel’s time shaved off the 15-year-old meet mark of Maharashtrian Bala Saheb Nikam by more than 20 secs. Andhra Pradesh’s Surender Kumar pushed hard Inderjeet (17) until the last two laps and finished a credible second in 30:34.01.
But the focus shifted to the field when youth boys’ high jump commenced in the afternoon. As expected the defending champion Shashidhar Harshith grab the attention of spectators and compatriots. The lanky Karnataka jumper gave a pass to the initial three heights before making a ‘safety’ jump at 1.90m. After skipping the next height (1.93), he had begun sailing over the crossbar in perfect manner right from 1.96 to an amazing 2.17m without any hitch. Incidentally it was not only put in shade Tamil Nadu jumper Nikhil Chittarasu’s 2006 mark of 2.05m in a big margin, but also the National Youth Record of 2.13m held by Bengal boy Harishankar Roy since 2002.
Bihar’s Amarnath Ojha and Kerala athlete Sreenith Mohan have both cleared an identical height of 1.99m for silver and bronze medals respectively behind Harshith’s gold winning 2.17m.
Harshith, hails from India’s golden-town Kolar, was a first year Pre-University student in Bangalore M.E.S. College. He finished eighth in the recent Open Nationals at Kolkata with a height of 2.10m. Harshith could have comfortably won the gold there if he could have achieved what he did today in Ranchi. Harshith is fast evolving on the Indian athletics highway and reminded us of Nallusamy Annavi (TN) in the eighties. If groomed well, Harshith will bring more laurels to the country in the continental arena. Hope the entire Karnataka team will celebrate his birthday on their return journey from Ranchi, four days from now!
In the girls under-14 division, Anjana Thamke of Maharashtra bettered another meet and national mark in 600m with a time of 1:31.36. Kerala runner Babita finished second in 1:37.71. The champion state started its golden hunt through long jumper Athira Surendran (5.72m) and javelin thrower N.V. Sheena (40.71m).
Maharashtra’s Monika Athare defends her title in junior women’s 5000m, while discus thrower Vikas did the same for Haryana in junior men’s category.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
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Ranchi, 24 October 2011 Athletics competitions for juniors were conducted at the beginning for a single age-group. Boys and girls under the age of 16 took part along with seniors at the nationals in the late fifties. Initially there had been 14 events for the boys and 10 for girls contested in the composite national meets of those initial years. However the introduction of multiple age-groups and the increased number of junior athletes taken part at the national level have prompted the Athletics Federation of India to introduce a separate Junior Nationals in 1986 at Hissar, Haryana.
The 27th edition of the junior national athletics championships will be held at Ranchi, Jharkhand, from November 1 to 4, this year. Around 2,500 athletes from across the country are expected to take part in eight age-groups, four for boys and an equal number of divisions for the girls. There will be a total 118 events (including 58 in the female section) to be contested in the four day meet at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium. This will be the fourth major national meet at Birsa Munda stadium this year. Beginning with the National Games in February, Jharkhand Athletics Association efficiently organised two other meets—the Youth Nationals in May and National Inter-District meet in October—prior to the season-ender in next week. The synthetic track in Ranchi is one of the fastest in India and is all set to welcome the future stars of the nation. Athletes who excel in the junior nationals will be absorbed in the national camps to be held in various parts of SAI centres and considered for the national team to Asian and World junior championships in next year. / AFI / |
Krishna Poonia once again proved her mettle as an A qualifier to the Olympics
Portland, USA – 17 October 2011
In less than 72 hours after she attained the “B” qualification norm to the 2012 Olympic Games here, Indian discus thrower Krishna Poonia delivered a stupendous performance of 62.25m that surpassed the “A” standard (62m) and proved her gold winning show in last year’s Commonwealth Games at New Delhi was not a fluke!
Krishna registered 61.12m on Friday for her initial qualification. But she went all out to breach the 62m mark in what is called the “Halloween Throws Meet”. Today’s performance was better than her golden throw of 61.51m in CWG last year.
Krishna was the 21st athlete in the world to achieve the “A” standard qualification for the Olympics since the commencement of the qualification period on May 1 this year. Poonia’s show will encourage other Indian discus throwers, especially the other two CWG medallists Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil, to join her on the race for the Olympic berth since a maximum number of three athletes with A-standard from a nation will be allowed to compete in London. The last date for attaining the eligibility is 8th July 2012.
Virender Poonia, husband and coach of Krishna, thanked the Indian government and Athletics Federation of India for their continuous support and encouragement. With today’s meet Krishna ended her campaign for the season and hence very happy that she achieved the best of her season on a winning note.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Krishna Poonia qualified for London Olympics
Portland, USA – 15 October 2011
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia has become the latest athlete from India to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games at London.
Krishna, presently training in United States Throws Center at Concordia University (Oregon) since July this year under the guidance of former US Olympian MacWilkins, had won the discus throw event in the Fling Throws Meet here today with an excellent performance of 61.12m.
The champion athlete showed tremendous improvement after recovering from an injury which she sustained after the Delhi games last year and today’s performance marked her season’s best. Krishna was now one of the half a dozen Indian athletes who achieved Olympic qualification norms since the beginning of the qualification period this year.
“I thank Indian fans as a large number of Indian community living in this area have come and encouraged me that enable improvement in my performance level” Krishna revealed after the event and added that she missed her son Lakshya Raj Poonia due to her training at the United States for the past four months and eager to meet him when she return home in the first week of November.
Another discus thrower Vikas Gowda, Shot putter Om Prakash, triple jumper Mayookha Johny, half-miler Tintu Luka and walkers Gurmeet Singh and Babubhai Panucha are the other athletes already attained the London qualification.
With a large number of young and upcoming athletes shown promising performances in recent period, the list is expected to grow bigger in the days to come.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Open National Athletics Championships
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Kolkata – 13 September 2011 Siddhanth stamped his class with a National Record in the grand finale Explode from the blocks like a super nova, 20-year-old Siddhanth Thingalaya proved his training stint in Australia and Europe was indeed a great support and capitalised his first competition on home-soil a memorable one in Yuba Bharati Krirangan on the concluding day of Open Nationals. His first exposure came in Potchefstroom, South Africa, last year under the sponsorship of Mittal Champions Trust and provided a stunner when clocked his first national mark in a remarkable 13.81 secs in 110m Hurdles while pinned down his much experienced seniors to win the Inter-State title at Patiala in 2010. A dedicated Siddhanth used to travel every weekend to Pune’s Balewadi all the way from his home in Mumbai’s Andheri area to train under Ajit Kulkarni, which transformed him to become a national level hurdler from his earlier love of football. Running under the ONGC banner, Siddhanth dipped under 14 secs for the second time in his career and posted a new national best 13.77s to shave off four-hundredths of a second from his previous best. Time and again his margin of victory (0.71s) was the biggest ever in the nationals On Tuesday’s final, Railway hurdler Thyagarajan Balamurugan was second in 14.48 secs and A. Suresh of Jharkhand finished third in 14.70s. M.M. Anchu (Railways) had become another athlete to clinch the third major title at national level championships this year by adding her gold today in women’s 100m hurdles to her earlier victories in the Inter-State meet and National Games. She matched her winning time from Bangalore inter-state meet when finished first in 13.90s. Tamil Nadu athlete J. Hemashree and railway teammate Shreema Priyadarshini were an ocean behind at 14.96 secs. Asha Roy, a daughter of vegetable vendor in Singur, once again on the limelight as the local girl cashed-in the home support by taking a sprint double through her victory in 200m this evening that annexed to her gold in 100m which she won earlier. Bengal girl Asha clocked a moderate 24.36s for her win but outclassed an experienced Srabani Nanda from neighbouring Orissa (24.52) and Ch. Shanthi (24.87), who represented ONGC here. Men’s 200m title returned to services team after seven years through M.G. Joseph (21.28s). Metric miler Pritam Bind, who won the 1500m in the nationals six years ago at Hyderabad, held off the challenge from services runner Rahul Pal and his ONGC teammate Suresh Kumar, the 10000m winner on the opening day. In a mesmerising last minute sprint Pritam went home with the gold in 14:23.18, Rahul just five-hundredths of a second behind for the silver while Suresh made it to podium again with a bronze medal in 14:24.50. Sajeesh Joseph takes his third title in men’s 800m at the nationals while his railway teammate S.R. Bindu got her maiden gold on the distaff side. The Railway men’s 4x100m relay quartet extends their winning streak for the eighth time. However they lost the honour in longer relay to Services, it got back the event seven years after their last triumph in 2004. Services camp also delighted with the win of long jumper Ritish Kumar, who got the top spot after sharing the same distance (7.70m) with two other athletes—Samsher Pratap Singh (ONGC) and Sudhir (Haryana). The previous win by an athlete under military rank came through R. Sanjeevan in way back 1997 at Gandhinagar. Indian Railways maintained its uninterrupted run in the championships by taking the top spot in medal tally with 17 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze medals. The Services team relegated to third position (5-7-8) as newcomers ONGC (8-5-4) become runners-up in the four day meet which concluded at two venues—Salt Lake Stadium and nearby SAI Sports Complex—today. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / Kolkata – 12 September 2001 Mayookha repeats her double triumph in jumps Asian champion Mayookha Johny of ONGC repeats her 2008 effort by taking a ‘double’ in long and triple jumps. By achieving this she joined Lekha Thomas, who represented LIC, to win the above events at the nationals back to back in 1997-98. Mayookha’s earlier appearance had come through her home-state Kerala, and that was the only difference. Starting with a noteworthy 13.47m jump on first round, Mayookha improved her mark to 13.63 and 13.71 in the next two rounds to win the gold in triple jump on Monday evening. Although 40 cm short of her personal best and national record performance registered at the Asian championships in Kobe, today’s show was highly commendable after her hectic season. Neethu Mathew (Madhya Pradesh) recorded a career best 13.24m for the silver while former Commonwealth Youth Games victor Shradha Ghule of Maharashtra claimed the bronze with 12.85m. Asian bronze medallist Om Prakash Singh, who is credited with two throws over 20 metres at his training base of Szombathely in Hungary, revealed his excellent form with a final round throw of 19.45m for his third title in the nationals in men’s shot put but barely missed the meet mark of 19.59m by Police athlete Bahadur Singh Sagoo. There was an interesting duel in high jump by national record-holder and home favourite Harishankar Roy and defending champion Nikhil Chittarasu. In a see-saw battle both the athletes tied for the gold as the duo cleared the same height of 2.16m and could not be separated even after a ‘count-back’. The first such occurrence at the nationals. Jagdeep Singh of ONGC received the bronze medal in 2.13m. In yet another interesting duel in the men's 400m hurdles by Railwaymen Satinder Singh Bajwa and Avin A. Thomas, both the athletes declared joint winners after a "dead-heat" which witnessed them clocking an identical 51.49 secs. Services runner Shejil Verghese (51.95s) was awarded the bronze medal. Bhupinder Kaur brought the first medal for Punjab in women’s 400m hurdles clocking a moderate 60.64 secs outpacing R. Anu of Kerala (1:01.00) and Haryana’s Anju Rani (1:01.65). Asian junior champion Harvinder Singh Dagar of Uttar Pradesh, like another junior Arpinder Singh in triple jump yesterday, takes his third straight senior title of the year in hammer throw which followed his golden efforts at the National Games in Ranchi and the Inter-State win in Bangalore. He overpowered his senior rival Nirbhay Singh of Services with a fine effort of 63.37m. The services thrower got the silver in just 5 cm behind. Uttaranchal’s Shiv Kumar delivered 61.51m for the bronze. Kerala athletes had a clean sweep in women’s pole vault event with K.K. Anoosha annexed the gold by scaling 3.40m. K.P. Anusha (3.40) and K.C. Dija (3.30) occupied the next two places in the podium. Olympic qualifier Babubhai Panucha of Services fails to defend his title and a chance to win a hat-trick in men’s 20,000m race walking. Punjab’s Surender Singh won the race in 1 hour 29 minutes 3.9 secs. Panucha finished second in 1:30:10.60 while teammate Chandan Singh completed in third. Although in low key at performance level, the women’s heptathlon saw a battle for the top spot between Purnima Hembram (Orissa) and K.D. Sindhu (Madhya Pradesh). The latter won the event eventually tabulating 4958, just five points more than that of Hembram. The women’s steeplechase event had to be cancelled due to lack of entries. / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Kolkata – 11 September 2011
Young Arpinder takes his third straight senior title in triple jump
Last year’s Asian junior silver medallist Arpinder Singh completes a unique hat-trick in triple jump when he registered a personal best jump measuring 16.63m. The 18-year-oldPunjab boy added open national crown to his National Games and Inter-State wins earlier this year. Saurav Singh of Police and Bibu Mathew of Services took the silver and bronze medals by jumping to 16.22 and 16.06m respectively.
Another athlete to achieve this feat today was discus thrower Harwant Kaur representing ONGC. Like Arpinder she also had her maiden title in the open nationals with a throw of 53.59m, an easy outing in the absence of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Krishna Poonia.
Railway walker Deepmala Devi's winning streak in domestic circle was halted by Khushbir Kaur as she snatched the 20,000m race walking crown this morning in a time of 1 hour 34 minutes 38.18 secs. Deepmala's last defeat also came in the Open Nationals two years ago at Bhopal. Khushbir become the third woman represented the Punjab state to win the nationals behind Jasmin Kaur (2001 and 2003) and Amandeep Kaur (2005).
Haryana lad Manish and Bengal girl Asha Roy have took their maiden titles at the nationals while crowning the fastest man and woman of the meet. Asha, a bronze medallist in long jump at the Youth Nationals three years ago, cloked 11.85 secs to win in a depleted field. However Manish had to face a big challenge in two times champion B.G. Nagaraj of Railways. Manish stopped the clock in 10.60s to win from Nagaraj, who shared an identical 10.67s with state-mate G.N. Bopanna, the third placer.
Poovamma brought the women’s 400m gold in 53.87 secs to Karnataka, two decades after Ashwini Nachappa did this honour at the same venue! In men's race Kunhu Muhammed defends his title, this time under services banner. Last year he had represented his home-state Kerala.
Women 1500m race saw O.P. Jaisha took her third title in this event, after a gap of four years while teammate Sajeesh Joseph takes his second title in four years.
Steeplechaser Ramachandran got his maiden title at the nationals, also a first for Tamil Nadu in this event.
Vijay Kumar was the second combined events champ from Haryana as he replicated Jora Singh’s win in 2007 in decathlon with a tally of 7106 points.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Kolkata, 10 September 2011
Mayookha ascertained her supremacy with a big leap in long jump
Second only to Anju Bobby George’s nine year old meet mark of 6.74m, Asian champion Mayookha Johny proved her mettle by taking the long jump gold in a commendable 6.54m. Although her effort was once again fell short of the Olympic Games qualification norm (6.65m), the ONGC athlete lived up to everyone’s expectations even after a hectic schedule which includes an incredible World championship outing at Daegu, Korea, hardly ten days ago. Her compatriot M.A. Prajusha settled with a silver (6.45) while the bronze medal went to Bihar’s Tanzila Khatoon (6.09).
Earlier in the morning Asian junior champion Suresh Kumar graduated as a senior by taking his first major title and gave his employers ONGC the first gold of the meet in 10,000m clocking 30:18.16. He avenged his defeat to Army lad Kheta Ram in the Inter-State meet held at Bangalore this June. The services runner was 6.2 secs behind for the second place. Railwayman Soji Mathew went home with a bronze in 30:43.39.
As expected the women’s race a keen contest between arch-rivals Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut. Asian Games gold medallist Preeja outshined Kavita by just four-hundredth-of-a-second to take her fourth title in the 25-lapper at nationals. Preeja’s winning time was a modest 35:56.09 while Kavita registered 35:56.13. Suriya Loganathan of Railways was a close third in 36:09.00.
Services discus thrower Vipender Singh regained his title after a gap of four years! Earlier he had won the title in 2006 at Delhi with a mark of 52.84m. It was only the fifth time ever a services athlete wins this event in the meet's history. His winning mark today (50.52m) was lowest in 20 years. Teammate Dharmendra threw 21 cm lesser for the silver, railway’s Sunil Kumar was third in 49.27m.
Railway women Manju Bala and Saraswathy took the hammer and javelin throw titles respectively. Saraswathy took her fourth straight title by setting out the spear to 49.05m, a feat achieved only by another Railway star Razia Sheikh during 1983-86. Mukesh Kumari of Railways (46.29m) and Uttar Pradesh girl Anu Rani (46.05) completes the podium.
Manju Bala took her maiden title in hammer throw in this championship with a mark of 56.71m. Her teammate Anitha Abraham (53.26) and Gujarat’s Sarita (53.20) took the silver and bronze medals in that order.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Kolkata, 9 September 2011
The 51st edition of Open National Athletics Championships will be held simultaneously at two venues in Kolkata—Salt Lake Stadium and SAI Sports Complex—in the next four days (10-13 September). Apart from state units, the athletes from Railways, Services, Police and ONGC are expected to deliver good performances in the above meet as it will be an opportunity for the aspirants to attain qualifying norms for the London Olympics next year.
Shot putter Om Prakash Singh, who recently improved his personal best to 20.07m while taking the gold in Szombathely, Hungary, along with Asian long jump champion Mayookha Johny, who already qualified for Olympic Games in triple jump will be the main attraction in the Open Nationals.
Steeplechaser Sudha Singh, distance runners Kavita Raut and Preeja Sreedharan among women and half-miler Ghamanda Ram among men are the top contenders in their respective events.
Defending champion Railways fields a strong 109-member contingent which is largest among the 22 teams taking part with around 900 athletes in the national athletics meet.
/ AFI /
4th Commonwealth Youth Games
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Douglas, Isle of Man – 12 September 2011 Navtejdeep gave a golden shot to India on grand Sunday When most of the Indians retired to bed on Sunday night, one young boy had some serious business on the British isle! India’s Navtejdeep Singh was busy on the shot put circle and looking at his compatriots curiously. There were nine athletes present, including Singh, some of them with international exposure and others on their first outing. For Navtej, it was a second voyage, after his first sortie to France to take part in the World Youth Championships at Lille. The field in Douglas include two WYC finalists—Hezekiel Romeo of Trinidad & Tobago as well as South African Ruan Combrinck. Entered in to the ring with the 5 Kg iron ball on hand Navtej set his eyes straight on the throwing arena which marked with dents made of the previous landing of the shots. He closed his eyes and murmured ‘satguru ji kirpa karna ji’ while inhaling plenty of oxygen which filled his body happily. Thereafter he rotated swiftly and delivered the ball to the horizon which landed at 18.81m, a mark which could have put him in the WYC final two months ago but did not materialise at that time. However it was enough for the Indian to fetch the gold medal to his country here. The South African settled for the silver in 18.57 whereas Romeo tossed 17.97m to take the bronze. With Navtej’s win Indian athletes finished their CYG outing with 2 gold and 1 bronze medals as the other two came from 400m hurdler Durgesh Kumar Pal (gold) and discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (bronze). / Ram. Murali Krishnan / |
Durgesh Kumar Pal won GOLD in 400m hurdles
Douglas, Isle of Man – 11 September 2011
When he lined-up for the semi-final yesterday India’s Durgesh Kumar Pal had one thing in mind—win the race at any cost—as he carried the in memory the unforgettable loss at the World Youth Championships just two months ago in Villeneuve d’Ascq. In the French town, popularly known as Lille, he misjudged his opponents in the semi-finals and finished third in a slow time which cost him dearly a chance to enter the final to win the event. Having won the silver medal in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games at Singapore last year he was a pre-race favourite but returned home empty-handed.
The lesson from France taught him since that he swear himself not to lose any race thereafter. Drawn on lane five in the Sunday’s final, Durgesh ran a well calculated race and cleared the obstacles without any problem to romp home the coveted gold in 51.76 secs. South Africa’s Constant Pretorius, fifth at WYC, finished a distant second in 53.05s while Kion Joseph of Barbados took the bronze in 53.52s.
However the other Indian hopes were dashed in girls 200m semi-finals when Archana Suseentran (25.36s) and Sunanda Sarkar (25.20s) finished third and fourth in their respective heats and could not qualify for the final.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Douglas, Isle of Man – 11 September 2011
Duregesh enter hurdles final, Archana in 200m semis
Indian athletes continue to deliver good performances in the Commonwealth Youth Games here with Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Durgesh Kumar Pal led the field in 400m hurdles clocking 53.15 secs on Saturday in the National Sports Centre here to qualify for finals.
In yet another surprising feat, sprinter Archana Suseentran won her 200m heat with a time of 24.59s to enter the girls’ semi-finals on Sunday.
However, discus thrower Sandeep found the competition very high and finished fifth after throwing the disc to 55.43m. South Africa’s Gerhard de Beer won the gold in 67.44m while his teammate Jan-Louw Kotze took the bronze with a throw of 62.90m, missing the silver medal in just 6 cm to Scottish boy Nicholas Percy.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Douglas, Isle of Man – 10 September 2011
Navjeet grabs Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medal in discus throw
Indian discus thrower Navjeet Kaur Dhillon recorded her personal best 45.27m to win the bronze medal in 4th Commonwealth Youth Games which begun at Douglas in Isle of Manyesterday.
In a Friday night action, the Punjab thrower overpowered her nearest rival Phoebe Dowson by 26 cm for the podium finish. The gold went to Australian Taylah Sengul with a throw of 50.71m while Jersey girl Shandine Duquemin clinched the silver medal in 49.25m—both career best performances.
Another Indian girl Sunanda Sarkar also made to finals and finished sixth with a time of 12.32 secs after clocking a credible 12.10s in the semi-final. Englishwoman Sophie Papps excelled with 11.53s for the gold while Canadians Caroline Morin-Houde and Shaina Harrison had an identical 11.81 secs for the next two places.
However Priyanka Mondal of India was disqualified in her 400m heats earlier.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships-2011
Bhopal, 4 September 2011
Haryana clinched overall honours, Praveen Muthukumarn sets youth best in 100m
Sprinters from Tamil Nadu ruled the national scene in seventies and eighties. History repeated again when Praveen Muthukumaran posted a marvellous Indian Youth best of 10.75 secs in boys’ u-18 division on the final day of National Inter-Zonal junior athletics championship here this evening.
As expected athletes from Haryana state went away with overall and boys’ team honours while Tamil Nadu was top in the medal tally for girls. TN jumper Siva Anbarasi won a double adding here triple jump gold to her long jump victory earlier.
Jharkhand’s Asian Youth Games champion Namita Kabat took the junior women 800m title clocking 2:18.14. Kerala girl Aparna gave a good challenge to Namitra till the wire and finished second in a credible 2:18.50.
Karnataka jumper Harshith was once again on the limelight when he sailed over 2.08m in high jump for youth boys. His winning height was a well 5 cm above that of junior men’s winner Gowtham of Tamil Nadu in this event. Harshith already started competing in senior competitions and will reach higher places if groomed well.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Sweat revenge by Salahuddin in triple jump
Bhopal, 3 September 2011
Coincidence never occurred often. They are rare and god-sent!
Yesterday in Daegu, American long jumper Dwight Phillips proudly displayed his bib number “1111” to mention his fourth time victory in the World championships. Today when Phillips about to climb on the podium another jumper was standing on the runway several thousand kilometres away in Bhopal’s T.T. stadium. Like Phillips he had a mission to accomplish and a point to prove.
Salahuddin, trained by his father and former SAF Games medallist Mohammed Nizamuddin, was already an international at 17 years! He has represented the nation in the Asian continental qualifier for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games at Singapore last year following his maiden win in triple jump at the National Youth Championships in Coimbatore. However he had disappointing second place in this year’s Youth Nationals at Ranchi, when losing the crown to Haryana’s Sandeep after jumping 15.24m. Sandeep set a meet record in Ranchi by leapt 15.33m and donned the national colours when took part in the World Youth Championships at Lille, France, where he could manage only 14.14m.
However the day belongs to Salahuddin as he made a remarkable series of jumps taking his strides on the rain-soaked runway and registered his personal best 15.25m for the gold wearing an auspicious bib number “786”.
Struggling to find his rhythm Sandeep finished a distance eighth with a surprising 12.63m. But another Haryana athlete Vikas took the silver in 14.71m. “I expect Sala to do 15.50 or over, but rain played a spoilsport” revealed Nizamuddin after the event. His mark is notable as the under-20 winner R. Rajasekhar, also from Tamil Nadu, could manage only 14.90 for the gold!
Another youth athlete to catch the eye was Rajendra Bind from Uttar Pradesh. A fine steeplechaser,
Bind was an easy winner in 3,000m run in the absence of his teammate and national record holder Indrajeet Patel in 8:42.94.
Karnataka’s Deeksha missed the meet mark in girls under-14 long jump by just 1 cm when achieved the winning leap of 5.16m.
Haryana opened its gold-quest and Sumit Malik clocked national best in 400m
Bhopal, 2 September 2011
The sporting state of Haryana begin its dominance right from the beginning when Vikas Malik ran away with the 10,000m gold in 32:38.68 on the opening day of 23rd National junior inter-zone athletics championship here in T.T. Stadium. The 17-year-old Vikas outshined his senior compatriots to achieve this feat in boys’ under-20 division.
Few hours later, Sumit Malik surprised everyone when he clocked a new national record of 47.76 secs to win the 400m in youth boys (under-18) division. Teammate Sachin Kumar collected the silver medal in 48.42s. The girls’ u-18 title also went to another Hariyani as Sarita finished first in 57.21s.
New meet marks were set by u-16 boy Akash Singh of Haryana in 400m (50.10s) and Tamil Nadu youth Praveen Muthukumaran in long jump (7.25m).
The youth boys’ medley relay also witnessed a new meet record as Haryana quartet timed 1:57.84 in their continued dominance on the national scene
Other notable winners include Tamil Nadu’s Mahalakshmi in discus throw (35.21m) and Rakesh Sharma of Maharashtra in 1,000m (2:34.24) in the under-16 divisions for girls and boys respectively.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Bhopal – 31 August 2011
The 23rd National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships will be conducted at Tatya Tope Stadium, Bhopal, from September 2 to 4, 2011.
Nearly 470 boys and just over 400 girls from all over the country are taking part in the three day meet featuring 126 events in eight age-groups (four each for boys and girls).
The meet is growing bigger and popular when compared to the inaugural edition held at New Delhi in December 1989 in which only 65 events contested in four age-groups, i.e., senior and junior divisions for boys and girls. North Zone dominated in the boys division while the East ruled among the girls.
The top-two athletes in individual events, along with the winning teams in relay races, from the competitions held in four zones will vie for top honours in Bhopal. This year’s zonal competitions begun with East Zone meet in Kolkata on August 1, followed by North in Lucknow and West in Pune before the South Zone meet concluded at Hyderabad three weeks later.
Although representing the Zones, team honours go to leading states in the recent editions of the above championships.
For more details click here
/ AFI /
IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011
Daegu, Korea – 2 September 2011
Tintu misses final, but attained Olympic qualification
Tintu Luka made a gallant effort to clock 2:00.95 while finished sixth in her semi-final heat at the World championships this evening. She could not qualify for the Sunday’s final but had the satisfaction of achieving the qualifying standard for next year’s Olympic Games in London;
Today’s time was the third fastest in her career behind her national record 1:59.17 which she achieved while finished fifth in the Continental Cup (formerly World Cup) in Split, Croatia, last September and 2:00.79 clocked in Brussels, Belgium, a month earlier to it.
Russian Maria Savinova won the second heat in which Tintu ran in 1:58.45. The first heat was also won by another Russian Yuliya Rusanova (1:58.73). However defending champion Caster Semenya of South Africa, who overcame gender controversy after her title win in Berlin two years ago, clocked the fastest 1:58.07 to stamp her class in third heat of the semis.
Good Luck to Tintu Luka and her coach P.T. Usha for their preparation towards the London Olympics.
Earlier in the morning, triple jumper Renjith Maheswary put a disappointing display as he fouled in all the three jumps of qualifying round. “I used to jump above 17m in my practice, but twelfth qualifier here jumped only 16.81m that makes me feel heavily” a dejected Renjith revealed after the event.
Bolt qualifies for 200m final, Cheruiyot took grand distance double
Usain Bolt is in smile again as he walked through the 200m semis comfortably in 20.31 secs to ensure a lively final tomorrow.
Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot outclassed a challenging Meseret Defar of Ethiopia for a “golden double” as she added the title crown in 5000m (14:55.36) to the 10000m victory earlier. Teammate Sylvia Kibet (14:56.21) pushed Defar (14:56.94) to third place.
German strongman David Storl registered a personal best 21.78m toss to win the men’s shot put. In the long jump pit, Dwight Phillips (USA) triumphed with his fourth title with a 8.45m jump and proudly displayed his bib number “1111”, a rare coincidence!
Russian Maria Abakumova posted a new meet mark in women’s javelin throw measured to 71.99m. US sprint-star Allyson Felix was once again unlucky as Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica eased out with a season best 22.22 secs clocking for 200m gold. Felix finished third (22.42) behind fellow American Carmelita Jeter (22.37s). But the US men’s longer relay team came from behind to win the 4x400m in 2:59.31, closely followed by teams from South Africa (2:59.87) and Jamaica (3:00.10).
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Daegu, Korea – 1 September 2011
Tintu enters 800m semi-final
Tintu Luka entered the semi-finals of World Championships in Daegu this morning as a fastest loser in 800m heats. She clocked a commendable 2:01.89 to achieve this feat while finishing sixth in her heat which includes defending World champion Caster Semenya from South Africa. With the Top-4 finishers from the five heats gain automatic qualification in to three semi-finals slated for tomorrow, Tintu gave some anxious moments while lying third among the losers after her heat number four. A slow fifth heat won by Ugandan Annet Negesa in 2:02.75 brought relief and cheer to everyone in the Indian camp as it ensures Tintu’s berth in the semis which will be held tomorrow after-noon.
Only four Indian athletes took part in 800m at the World championships to date. Shiny Wilson was the first runner to take part in this event when she set her foot in 1993 at Stuttgartwith a time of 2:06.64. Jyotirmoy Sidar, the double gold medallist in the Asian Games, followed suit in the next edition in Gothenburg with an improved clocking of 2:03.68.
Rosa Kutty, the country’s top middle distance runner in nineties, finished third in her heat in 2:02.2--at Athens two years later in 1997--a mark which was listed as best among the Indians in the global meet until Tintu improved it today. However Rosa Kutty was unlucky that time as there were only two semi-finals in that period and she could not make it even as a fastest loser, which Tintu managed to do this morning in Daegu. Tintu join the elite club after a gap of 14 years!
Earlier shot putter Om Prakash Singh conclude his voyage after delivered the iron ball to a distance of 19.29m on his first round qualification throw, which ranked him twelfth in his group and twenty-third overall. Navpreet Singh’s performance of 19.35m for a twenty-first place in the qualifier of 2007 edition hence remain as a best national placing by an Indian in men’s shot put.
Kenyan celebrate steeple gold with dance party on track
Kenyan duo of Ezekiel Kemboi and Birmin Kipruto took the top two spots in men’s steeplechase. Kemboi, the gold medallist in 8:14.85, ripped off his jersey and started celebrating his victory with a jubilant dance on tracks amidst thundering cheer from the stands.
Asian champion Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim’s dream of winning the high jump title went futile as he could not scale higher than 2.32m and placed seventh while Bahamian Trevor Barry with the same height went home with a bronze. A perfect clearance in all his attempts gave the American Jesse Williams the gold while Russian Aleksey Dmitrik had to be content with the silver after clearing the 2.35m as Williams due to number of failures.
Ukraine’s Olha Saladuha grabbed the triple jump gold from favourite Olga Rypakova of Russia in 14.94 to 14.89m. Colombian Caterine Ibarguen collect the bronze with a jump of 14.84m.
Jennifer Simpson of United States surprised the field in women’s 1500m as she clinched the top spot in 4:05.40 from Hannah England of Great Britain who timed 4:05.68 ahead of Spaniard Natalia Rodriguez (4:05.87).
Lashinda Demus raised the stars and stripes further high when she takes the women’s 400m hurdles in a world leading 52.47 secs. It was indeed a party day for the Americans since their men’s 4x400m sets another world lead of 2:58.82 in the morning heats.
Britain’s David Greene won the men’s 400m hurdles clocking 48.26 secs.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Daegu, Korea – 30 August 2011
Vikas Gowda finished Seventh in discus throw
Vikas Gowda, become the first man from India to enter the World Championship Finals, finished in a credible seventh place in today’s Discus Throw final with a mark of 64.05m. He was lying at the bottom of the table after the first two rounds with throws measuring 60.79 and 61.51m respectively. However a decent 64.05m in third round placed him in the final eight.
However Vikas could not go beyond it as he touched only 62.81m on fourth round and an identical 62.16m in his final two attempts.
German thrower Robert Harting, the reigning World champion, opened with a big 68.49m and went on to improve it to 68.97m on fourth round to stamp his class and defend his title in this event. Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia (66.95) and Asian champion Ehsan Hadadi of Iran took the silver and bronze medals with throws of 66.95m and 66.08m respectively.
Earlier in the morning Mayookha Johny ended her campaign in Daegu Worlds while finished tenth in her Group-A qualification round of women’s triple jump, nineteenth overall, with a jump of 13.99m. Now she should focus on her training for next year’s Olympic Games in London. “I’m sorry, it was my first exposure in a World championships. I shall do better in future competitions” she revealed after the event.
Isinbayeva out of podium again
World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva went without a medal in women’s pole vault for the second successive time in the World championships. After clearing her opening height of 4.65m, she gave a pass to 4.70 and had one failure in 4.75m. Then she moved to 4.80m with only two attempts remaining but failed in both and thus ended in sixth place. She went on to scale a world record of 5.06m in Zurich two years ago after exit with a ‘no height’ situation in the previous World meet at Berlin in 2009.
Brazil’s Fabiana Murer sailed over a career best 4.85m to win the event ahead of Martina Strutz of Germany (4.80) and Svetlana Feofanova of Russia (4.75),
Of the three track finals today, men’s 400m witnessed another upset as pre-race favourite LaShawn Merritt of United States was beaten at the tape by Kirani James of Grenada in 44.60 to 44.63 secs. Merritt posted a world leading 44.35 secs in the qualifying heats in Daegu. Belgian Kevin Borlee got the bronze in 44.90 secs.
Kenyan David Rudisha, the world record holder in 800m, easily won his event in 1:43.91 ahead of Sudanese Abubaker Kaki (1:44.41) and Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy (1:44.49).
However a Kenyan dream of taking the women’s 3000m steeplechase title went futile as Yuliya Zaripova of Russia recorded a world leading time of 9:07.03. The silver medal went to Tunisia’s Habiba Ghribi (9:11.97) while Kenyan Milcah Chemos Cheywa (9:17.16) settled for a bronze.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Daegu, Korea – 29 August 2011
Gowda advances to discus throw final
VIKAS GOWDA finally qualified for a World Championship final in discus throw. Today at Daegu, Vikas hurled the disc to an outstanding 63.99m in the qualification round to enter the FINAL as an eighth athlete out of 12 selected men. For Vikas, the Commonwealth Games silver medalist last year, it was a long awaited moment. He took part in the Worlds in 2005 and 2007 but could not go beyond the qualifying round. He is in good shape now and is expected to figure among the Top-8 in the finals tomorrow.
Starting with 62.37m on his first round throw, Vikas improved it to 63.99 on the second before finishing with 61.85m in the third and final round of the Group-A qualification which led by Asian champion Ehsan Hadadi of Iran a noteworthy 65.21m. German ace Robert Harting (64.93) and Lithuanian Virgiliyus Alekna (64.21) have finished ahead of Gowda in that group. The top four in Group-B led by Piotr Malachowski of Poland in 65.48m also had better marks than Vikas and thus put in eighth among the twelve selected for the finals.
Murofushi and Adams live-up to expectations
Koji Murofushi of Japan brought Asia the second medal with his excellent season best of 81.24m in men’s hammer throw. He pushed aside Krisztian Pars of Hungary (81.18m) and Slovenian Primoz Kozmus (79.39) to next two spots.
New Zealander Valerie Adams was a cut above the rest in the women’s shot put circle. Started with a modest 19.37m and faultered on her next round throw, Adams gave some anxious moments before setting a new Championship Record with her stupendous 21.24m on the final round. Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus (20.05) and American Jillian Camarena-Williams (20.02) have claimed the silver and bronze medals here.
Botswana’s Amantle Montsho recorded a personal best 49.56 secs to shatter the dream of Allyson Felix of United States (49.59) in women’s 400m. Russian Anastasiya Kapachinskaya finished third in 50.24 secs for the bronze.
Former world and Olympic champion Liu Xiang (China) led the men’s 110m hurdles until losing his balance at the last hurdle. The gold went to Jason Richardson in 13.16 secs while Liu got the silver (13.27s). World record holder Dayron Robles got disqualified after finishing first in the race.
American Carmelita Jeter won an exciting women’s 100m in 10.90 secs ahead of Veronica Campbell Brown of Jamaica (10.97) and Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad & Tobago (10.98) as another Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser missed the podium in just another one-hundredth of a second.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Daegu, Korea – 28 August 2011
Mayookha finished ninth in long jump final
It was so near, yet so far for Mayookha Johny in the long jump. The Asian champion miserably missed a god-given opportunity to win a global medal. Yes, a medal was well within her reach until the customary three trials were over.
Everyone wondered what went wrong when she started with a not so great 6.37m jump and went down with marks of 6.31m and 6.26m on her next two try-outs. Her first jump placed her ninth after the third round and thus she missed entering the top-eight as well as denied three further jumps which could have brought her a medal. American Janay DeLoach made it to final as an eighth placer with her 6.39m effort and went on to improve it to sixth with her last round 6.56m.
The reigning Olympic champion Maurren Maggi of Brazil and multiple World indoor medallist Naide Gomes of Portugal also fails to move in to top-eight. But will it give an excuse to Mayookha’s dismal show in Daegu? World champion Brittney Reese (USA) defended her title with just one jump of 6.82m which she produced on her very first try and faultered in all her next five attempts. Russian Olga Kucherenko (6.77m) and Latvian Ineta Radevica (6.76m) were the other two medallists. The fact that Mayookha had a PB of 6.64m and have every chance to reach farther made her fans disappoint after her poor show today. She was in fact better rated in long jump this time than in the triple.
Earlier in the morning race walkers Gurmeet Singh and Babubhai Panocha finished 30th and 31st in 20 km with a timing of 1:26:34 and 1:26:53 respectively. For information, Babubhai was 20th at Berlin two years ago. Russians took the top two spots through Valeriy Borchin (1:19:56) and Vladimir Kanaykin (1:20:27) while Colombian Luis Fernando (1:20:38) went home with the bronze.
FS sent Bolt without a medal
A foul start in the final by no less a person than the reigning World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt put everyone under shock as he left the tracks without turning back. In a field where he can even win by just jogging in to few metres, Bolt’s ouster came as a surprise and raised everyone’s eyebrows. Commenting via facebook chat, former Canadian sprint queen Angella Mary Taylor was of the opinion that the No False Start rule needs to be reviewed and resorted to earlier methods. After Bolt’s exit another Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake become fastest man of the meet with a modest 9.92 secs clocking. Bolt now needs to make amends in 200m as well as in relays.
Ibrahim Jeilan led Ethiopian party in men's 10000m. He won a race went up to wire from britisher Mohammed Farah in 0.26 secs (27:13.81 to 27:14.07). Another Ethi Imane Merga got the bronze in 27:19.14 ahead of ace Eritrean runner Zersenay Tadese (27:22.57). With this win the Ethiopians retained the crown in this event as Kenenisa Bekele won in 2009 at Berlin.
China’s Li Yanfeng provided a stunner as she clinched the women’s discus throw crown with a mark of 66.52m to become the first Asian athlete to win an event in the ongoing Daegu Worlds. Germany’s Nadine Muller (65.97) and Cuban Yarelys Barrios (65.73) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Daegu, Korea – 27 August 2011
Mayookha cruises in to long jump final
Asian champion Mayookha Johny keeps Indian hope alive as she qualified for the women’s long jump final with a decent jump of 6.53m, tenth among the twelve qualifiers, led by Brazilian Maurren Maggi with a 6.86m.
Mayu’s qualification came as a consolation since discus thrower Harwant Kaur made an early exit in the morning after registering 56.49m in Group-A.
Anju Bobby George won a bronze medal for India at the 2003 edition of the World Championships in Paris. Mayookha hence become the second Indian to enter the global finals. We have to wait and see whether she would emulate ‘Anju chechi’ in tomorrow’s final.
Double sweep by Kenyan women
Kenyan women led two medal sweeps in marathon and 10,000m run. They started the day with a winning note in the first final of the championships, women’s marathon, early in the morning through Edna Kiplagat (2:28:43). The second and only other final in the evening in 10000m saw an incredible top four finish by the athletes from the land of endurance with Vivian Cheruiyot (30:48.98) took the top honours. The 1-2-3-4 happened only in two previous occasions when the 2005 edition of the Worlds witnessed such finish in men’s 200m and women’s 5000m.
Bolt jogged in smile, but Hooker lost his grip in vaulting arena
Defending World and Olympic champion made it easy as he virtually jogged the second half of his 100m qualifier in 10.10 secs. Britisher Dwaine Chambers was a distance second in 10.28s !!! Bolt’s time however was the fastest among the qualifiers out of the seven heats in first round!
Australian vaulting ace Steve Hooker, another World and Olympic title winner and Commonwealth champion in Delhi last year, had a disappointing exit as he could not clear his opening height of 5.50m in all his three attempts.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Valson honoured by the IAAF
Daegu, Korea – 25 August 2011
Cuddi Kotta Valson, the Technical Committee Chairman in Athletics Federation of India and a well-known International Technical Official, was conferred with the “Veteran Pin” by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) during its 48th Congress in the Korean city of Daegu.
Valson, 54, was born at Mahe in the Union Territory of Puducherry. Migrated to Chennai in his school days Valson passed out from Doveton Corrie and joined Loyola College to pursue a degree course in commerce. Loyola was a launching pad for several outstanding sportspersons in our country which includes World chess champion Vishwanathan Anand, Tennis legends Vijay Amritraj, Ramanathan Krishnan and Ramesh Krishnan, 1980 Olympic gold-winning Indian hockey team skipper V. Baskaran, Melbourne CWG table tennis gold medalist Sharath Kamal to name a few.
A long jumper in his heydays Valson adored Madras University colours and received training under the legendary A J de Souza of Don Bosco Athletics Club. He has joined the Chennai Port Trust in 1980 and helped raise many athletes.
Valson wrote a state-level technical officials’ examination in 1987 and thereafter started officiating in both state and national championships. In four-years-time he was ready to sit for the Level-1 examination for the International Technical Officials. A dedicated person Valson went to on climb on the ladder of success by taking the Level-2 (1997) and Level-3 (2001) exams without much difficulty. He had been invited for officiating duties at various global championships by the IAAF and Asian Athletics Association which he discharged diligently.
To cap it all, Valson was appointed as Competition Manager for the Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi. Perhaps it was one of the most challenging assignments he had come across in his life-time. However Valson was once again at his best in Delhi and that prompted his name to be included on the list of distinguished persons who ever received the rare honour from the World Governing Body in athletics.
By receiving the IAAF Veteran Pin, Valson joins the ‘elite club’ of sports administrators and technical officials from India who received the honour earlier. The following is the full Roster of Indians who received the award in chronological order:
1948 – Guru Dutt Sondhi
1962 – Jal D. Pardivala
1976 – S. Umrao Singh
2003 – Arun Kumar Banerjee
2007 – Dr. Lalit K. Bhanot
2011 – C.K. Valson
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Shot putter Om Prakash Singh qualified for Olympics
Szombathely, Hungary – 28 July 2011
After failing to defend his title at the Asian championships in Kobe earlier this month, shot putter Om Prakash Singh have something to cheer about as he achieved the qualifying norm for next month’s World championships in Daegu, Korea and next year’s Olympic Games in London.
Om Prakash tossed the iron ball to a personal best 20.04m to win the event on Thursday evening. His earlier best was 20.02m, which he registered while becoming the inter-state champion in Chennai two years ago. He went on to take the Asian title that year in Guangzhou but barely missed the World championship criteria by just 1 cm when defends the inter-state crown in Patiala last year with a throw of 19.99m. In this year’s Asian meet at Kobe, he settled with a bronze medal.
At Szombathely he had unfortunate foul when heaved the shot to a remarkable 20.50m, but eventually attained the world standard afterwards.
Om Prakash became the fourth Indian to qualify for the Olympics after discus thrower Vikas Gowda, walker Gurmeet Singh and triple jumper Mayookha Johny.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
19th Asian Athletics Championships
Kobe , 10 July 2011
Sudha Singh gets silver medal, Tintu Luka and Ghamanda Ram won bronze
The 19th Asian Athletics Championships have concluded with a grand ceremony at Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium here on Sunday evening.
| Japan means PERFECTION and they proved it with an excellent conduct of the 19th Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe. Further the hosts were on top in the medals tally by securing 11 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze medals and thus pushed the Asian sports power-house China to the second spot (10-12-5). |
India ended its campaign with one silver and two bronze medals on the last day of the above championship by taking its total to 11 (1 gold, 2 silver and 8 bronze medals) in the four-day meet, which is almost equaled its performance in the last edition held at Guangzhou two years ago (1G, 3S, 7B).
Sudha Singh, reigning Asian Games gold medalist in women’s 3000m steeplechase, had won a silver medal in her pet event clocking 10:08.52 behind Japanese Minori Hayakari who improved her country-woman Yoshika Tatsumi’s two year old meet mark to 9:52.42 to win the gold. The bronze went to Vietnam ’s Nguyen Thi Phuong in 10:14.94.
Earlier the nation’s top women half-miler Tintu Luka, tipped to clash for the 800m title crown with Margarita Matsko of Kazakhstan, finished third in 2:02.55. Matsko, the Asian Games victor in this event, also lost the battle to Vietnamese Truong Thanh Hang 2:01.41 to 2:02.46. Tintu thus kept her bronze medal status from Guangzhou Asiad.
The men’s 800m saw another Asian Games winner, Sajad Moradi of Iran , losing the top spot to Mohamed Al-Azimi of Kuwait . The Kuwaiti got a ‘golden double’ adding the 800m title to his earlier win in 1500m. In a closely contested race Al-Azimi clocked 1:46.14, the Iranian 1:46.35 while a re-emerging Indian Ghamanda Ram got the bronze in 1:46.46, missing an Olympic berth by just 0.16 secs. The second Indian runner in this event, Sajeesh Joseph, finished fifth 1:48.56.
Yesterday Indian triple jumper Mayookha Johny leaped to an excellent 14.11m to qualify for the London Olympics. She joined fellow Indian teammates Vikas Gowda (discus throw) and Gurmeet Singh (20 km walk) to sail for the next year’s Olympic Games.
India finished eighth and last in the men’s 4x100m relay (40.38 secs) while hosts Japan was victorious in 39.18s. The women’s 4x400m quartet of Mrudula Korada, Jhuma Khatun, O.P. Jaisha and Tintu Luka finished fourth and last in 3:44.17, an event which is otherwise used to be the national squad’s cup of tea at the continental level. A strong Japanese team annexed the gold in 3:35.00 here.
In other events, former world record holder Liu Xiang of China (12.88s) improved his meet mark to 13.22 secs for the gold in men’s 110m hurdles, while teammate Sun Yawei become victor in the women’s 100m hurdles in 13.04 secs. Chinese also pulled an upset in the women’s high jump when Xingjuan Zheng grabbed the gold on ‘count-back’ from fancied Uzbek jumper Svetlana Radzivil after both sailed over an identical height of 1.92m. Kazakhstan ’s Marina Aitova was third in 1.89m.
The Chinese women continued to rule the field with Meng Qianqian tossed the iron ball to a personal best 18.31m to win the shot put, beating her country-mate Liu Xiangrong by just 1 cm. Leyla Rajabi gave Iran a bronze medal in this event with a throw of 16.60m.
Su Xiongfeng made a golden leap of 8.19m in the men’s long jump to increase the Chinese medal tally while local man Yukifumi Murakami set out the spear to a record 83.27m to win the javelin throw.
Femi Seun Ogunode of Qatar provided a stunner in the men’s 200m sprint posting a new meet mark of 20.41 secs. Home favourite Chisato Fukushima cheered the fans by winning the women’s in 23.49s.
World Youth Championships
Lille, France – 7 July 2011
Indrajeet enters final, but Durgesh disappoint fans
Distance runner Indrajeet Patel improved his personal best national youth record to qualify for the boys 3000m finals in the World Youth Championships here on Thursday morning. However the Indian camp was heavily upset when Durgesh Kumar Pal made a shocking exit in the 400m hurdles.
Durgesh, a silver medallist in Youth Olympics last year, finished third in the first heat of semi-finals last evening. From the three heat semis, the top two finishers and two fastest losers would qualify for the final. However Durgesh’s heat turned out to be the slowest among the three and his third place finish costs him and the nation dearly. Although a strong runner, Duresh struggling to find his rhythm and faultered on his strides to complete the race in 52.96 secs, his slowest time this season. Japan’s Takahiro Matsumoto (52.20s) and Ramfis Vega (52.42) of Puerto Rico were 1-2 in that heat. The other two semi-final heats have been won by Constant Pretorius (51.57) of South Africa and Egor Kuznetsov (51.31) of Russia, all clocking personal bests. In yet another upset, Christiaan Mouton of South Africa, who sets a world youth leading time of 51.24 secs earlier this year had finished sixth in his heat with a paltry 52.54 secs and hence fails to qualify for final.
Indrajeet, finished fourth in his qualifying heat, improved his Indian youth best time to 8:14.93 and thus qualified for the final. Kenya’s Patrick Mutunga Mwikya had won the heat in 8 minutes flat while another Kenyan William Malel Sitonik took the next in an even faster 7:54.09 clocking. Although the line-up for Sunday’s final looks formidable, Patel is confident of getting a medal to the country.
Among the other Indians, Amit Kumar Singh was disqualified in the qualifying round of 110m hurdles after a false-start. In boys 1500m heats, Harish Singh Koranga posted a personal best 3:57.83 but his seventh place finish has not helped him a berth in the final. Similarly Priyanka Mondal finished seventh in her semi-final heat of 400m (57.16 secs) and bowed out of the finals. In hammer throw qualifiers, Indian Ali Ahmad finished last but one as he had only one valid throw of 57.71m, his lowest in career.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Durgesh and Priyanka qualified for semi-finals
Lille, France – 6 July 2011
The 7th World Youth Championships begun today amidst fanfare with 1375 athletes (757 boys and 618 girls) from 173 member nations and territories of the IAAF vie for honours in the five-day meet. A brand new bluish polytan track at the Stadium Lille-Metropole, which welcomed the “future champions”, kept reminding everyone who gathered there the glorious days in World championships at Berlin two years ago.
As expected India’s Durgesh Kumar Pal, silver medallist in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games at Singapore last year, easily won his qualifying heats to enter tomorrow’s semi-finals in boys’ 400m hurdles. It was indeed a ‘cake-walk’ for him as his giant strides put him nearly 10m ahead of his nearest rival Chiebonam Mba of Nigeria to win heat number two in 52.22 to 53.47 secs.
Saudi Arabia’s Yahya Ibrahim Barnawi (51.93) and United States’ Jonathan Russell (51.94) clocked personal bests to take the top two spots in the previous heat while this year’s world youth leader Christiaan Mouton of South Africa finished second (53.52) to Shota Madokoro of Japan (53.46) in the fourth heat. Russian Egor Kuznetsov (52.74) and Puerto Rico’s Ramfis Vega (52.57) had won third and fifth heats respectively. In toto all the leading athletes played it cool to save energy for the next two rounds.
Earlier in the morning, Priyanka Mondol qualified for girls 400m semi-finals as fastest loser in the heats with a personal best time of 56.27 secs. However discus thrower Sachin was unlucky as he finished 6th in group-A and 13th overall in the qualifying rounds, after achieving another personal best of 54.67m, since only the top-12 athletes would qualify to the evening’s final. Also there were poor returns from sprinter Jijin Vijayan in 100m(11.38s) and long jumper Anburaja (6.81m).
In the evening session, steeplechaser Rajendra Bind finished 16th and last in his heat (6:14.35). Similarly Sandeep (49.94s) and Jatin Jain (54.03s) made an exit in boys 400m as also Sunanda Sarkar (12.37s) in girls 100m.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
India sends largest ever team of 19 athletes to Lille
New Delhi, 5 July 2011
In an effort to encourage athletics at the grass root level, Athletics Federation of India sends its largest ever team of 19 athletes to the 7th IAAF World Youth Championships to be held in Lille, France, from July 6 to 10.
The present squad surpassed the previous high team-strength of 13 athletes who took part in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2005. India sent a token entry of two athletes to the inaugural edition of the above championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 1999 with two more to the next edition in Debrecen, Hungary, two years later. Seven young Indians competed in Sherbrooke, Canada, in 2003.
There were twelve athletes in the Indian squad at Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2007 while 10 represented the nation at the last edition in Bressanone-Sudtirol, Italy, two years ago.
Durgesh Kumar Pal, silver medallist in 400m hurdles at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last year, will be leading the TEAM INDIA consisting of 15 boys and 4 girls.
Durgesh, credited with a personal best 50.89 secs in Singapore, clocked 51.49 secs while winning the National Youth Championships at Ranchi this May. The above time is the second fastest for 400m hurdles behind Christiaan Mouton of South Africa, who held the world lead for youth boys with a 51.24s clocking since March. With the YOG victor Norge Sotomayor of Cuba graduated to junior division, Mouton will be the main rival to Pal for the top spot in Lille.
India also pin its hope on distance runner Indrajeet Patel, another Youth Olympic finalist last year in 3000m with a career best 8:15.02. Shot putter Navtejdeep Singh (19.34m) and hammer thrower Ali Ahmed (64.34m) are other key members of the national team.Discus thrower Navjeet Kaur (44.20m) is favourite among the girls.
Team (event in parenthesis):
BOYS
Jijin Vijayan (100m), Jatin Jain (200m), Sandeep (400m), Harish Koranga (1500m), Indrajeet Patel (3000m), Rajendra Bind (2000m steeplechase), Amit Kumar Singh (110m hurdles), Durgesh Kumar Pal (400m hurdles), Anburaja (Long jump), Sandeep Singh (Triple jump), Navtejdeep Singh (Shot put), Sachin Singh (Discus throw), Ali Ahmed (Hammer throw), Naveen Kumar (Javelin throw), Kuldeep (10000m Walk)
GIRLS
Sunanda Sarkar (100m), Archana Suseendran (200m), Priyanka Mondal (400m), Navjeet Kaur (Discus throw)
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Walkers Gurmeet and Panocha qualified for Olympics and World championships
Dublin, Ireland – 26 June 2011 Two Indian walkers Gurmeet Singh and Babubhai Panocha delivered noteworthy performances to attain the qualifying marks for the World championships (Daegu, Korea – 27 Aug to 4 Sep, 2011) and the XXX Olympiad (London–2012) today at Dublin, Ireland.
The 18th Dublin International Grand Prix of Race Walking, which is part of this year’s IAAF Race Walking Challenge, is one of the pre-designated meets to achieve qualification for both Daegu and London.
National champion Gurmeet Singh clocked an excellent 1:22:05 while finished ninth in the 20 km event held at Phoenix Park, Dublin. Earlier this year he clocked a fantastic 1:20:35, an Indian best, during the national grand prix at Patiala on 3rd May. Babubhai Panocha returned a personal best 1:23:04 today in the Irish capital. Panocha’s earlier mark of 1:23:06 was achieved when he finished 20th at the World championships in Berlin two years ago. Gurmeet bettered the “A” standard of 1:22:30 while Panocha’s time was better than the “B” grade (1:24:00). The above event was won by Wang Zhen from China in 1:19:46.
In the gruelling 50 km walk, Indian Basant Bahadur Rana barely missed the “B” qualifying standard of 4:09:00 as he clocked 4:10:51 for the second place. The above race was held under trying conditions as incredible heat waves foiled many global medallists complete the race and forced many to drop out en route. Only seven walkers out of 18 starters finished the race. Finland’s Antti Kempas won the race in 4:02:37.
Harminder Singh, another Indian on the fray has also dropped out midway. Harminder was the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist in 20 km race walk at New Delhi last year.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Open Nationals shifted to Kolkata
New Delhi, 17 June 2011
In the Annual General Meeting of the Athletics Federation of India held at New Delhi on Friday, the 17th June, it was decided to conduct the Open National Athletics Championships at Kolkata. The above meet originally scheduled at Ranchi is now fixed for September 10 to 13 at Kolkata.
Ranchi, which successfully hosted the National Youth Athletics Championship this May, is now taking up the venture of conducting the National Inter-District Athletics meet from 16thto 20th October.
There is a change in the date of National Cross-country Championship scheduled at Pune. It will be now held on 8th January 2012, instead of December 29.
/ AFI /
National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships
Bangalore, 14 June 2011
Kerala become overall champions in the National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships which concluded at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Tuesday evening. Kerala State also won the men’s and women’s team title and garnered a total 13 gold, 7 silver and an equal number of bronze medals for the overall honours.
Sudha Singh eclipsed steeple meet mark
Asian Games gold medallist Sudha Singh (Uttar Pradesh) ran a solo race in women’s 3,000m steeplechase. Former national record-holder and defending champion O.P. Jaisha (Punjab) expected to provide her the required challenge. However Sudha increased her pace after three laps and the gap between the two started widening thereafter. With no one to push her in the final phase of the race Sudha slowed down and thus missed an opportunity to improve her national record of 9:55.67 which she set while winning the Asiad at Guangzhou last year. However she had the satisfaction of posting a new meet mark in 10:01.24. Her teammate Priyanka Singh Patel was second in 10:21.37 while a tired Jaisha finished third in 10:25.10.
Amritpal annexed long jump gold
A galaxy of the country’s star jumpers, including national record holder Amritpal Singh, made the line-up. Ankit Sharma, who had a triumphant return after winning the prestigious Barrientos memorial meet at Havana (Cuba) two weeks ago, made a big leap of 7.74m on his opening try. It for However his one jump was enough to bring the silver medal to him. Amritpal, started with a paltry 7.33m went on to register 7.81m on his second try and thus pockets the gold. Haryana’s Sudhir managed to make a podium finish with 7.70m. It could have been quite interesting if Ankit
Tintu made a glorious return
The country’s leading middle distance runner Tintu Luka returns to track on a big stage after a lay-off of eight months. Naturally everyone anticipated a good race from her and she did not disappoint the audience. In her usual style she led the race right from the beginning and clocked a moderate 2:05.32 at the end. State-mate S.R. Bindu made it a 1-2 for Kerala, exactly five seconds later.
Kerala got another gold medal in this event through Sajeesh Joseph as he prevents Ghamanda Ram taking a double in the men’s race. The Rajasthan runner recently garnered threesilver medals in the Asian Grand Prix series in China and hence a pre-race favourite to win the event. However he was a wee bit earlier shown the victory sign and thus lost to Sajeesh at the post. Sajeesh won the event in 1:47.34, three-hundredths of a second faster than that of Ghamanda Ram, and adjudged the “best athlete” among men. The honour in women’s division also went to another Keralite--long jumper Mayookha Johny.
Kashinath, Joseph made the hosts happier
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kashinath Naik hurled the spear to 73.77m to win the men’s javelin throw. A spirited crowd cheered him all the way to victory.
Earlier in men’s 200m, local star M.G. Joseph ran the race of his life to edge fancied Manikanda Arumugam of Tamil Nadu to win in 21.82 secs. Andhra Pradesh’s K. Mrudula (24.93s) was the winner in the women’s division.
Tamil Nadu’s Surendhar and Kerala girl M.M. Anchu had overcome the barriers to win the high hurdles races for men and women respectively. Surendhar timed 14.62 secs for his victory from Krish Beethovan, another TN athlete running under Manipur colours here, in men’s 110m hurdles. Anchu was too good to her TN rival Kalaivani as she clocked 13.90 secs to take the women’s 100m hurdles.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Bangalore, 13 June 2011
Satinder and Sapinder take 400m Hurdles for Punjab
Punjab athletes Satinder Singh and Sapinder Kaur ruled the 400m hurdles for men and women with modest clocking of 51.13 secs and 1:00.56 respectively on the penultimate day of National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Monday.
The men’s line-up also included national record holder and Asian Games gold medallist Joseph Abraham of Kerala. Joseph, who normally move forward in the last 200m, made a late surge this evening and thus allowed the Punjab hurdler take the gold. Abraham finished second in 51.41 secs while his state-mate Avin A. Thomas collects the bronze at 51.89s.
With an injured Ashwini Akkunji, the reigning Asiad gold medallist in women’s division, decided to stay away, the women’s race become an open affair. Former national champion Sapinder Kaur quickly cashed in the opportunity to win the race comfortably from another Kerala athlete M.S. Darshana and her teammate K.A. Soniya, who finished third.
Prajusha wins triple jump
After a notable win in long jump on the opening day, national record holder Mayookha Johny decided to skip the women’s triple jump in order to preserve her energy for the big stage in Japan at the Asian championships. Although it made her compatriot M.A. Prajusha’s work easy, the Kerala girl made serious efforts to make the event lively. Prajusha delivered her season’s best jump of 13.53m on her third try-out today. Shradha Ghule of Maharashtra, the Commonwealth Youth Games champion, was second with 12.80m while Kerala girl Amitha Baby completes the podium with a 12.61m effort. It was indeed a consolation effort for the Maharashtrian who missed a medal in the long jump earlier.
In men’s hammer throw. Harvinder Singh outclassed his Uttar Pradesh teammate Chandrodaya Narayan Singh for the top spot. Harvinder sent the ball and chain to 66.21m while Chandrodaya’s best mark of the day measured to 63.44m.
Kavita wins 5000m thriller
Surya Loganathan, the thin Tamil Nadu runner, did the front running. Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut, who finished ahead of Surya in the 10000m, simply followed her till the last lap. When the runners approached the home-straight they started sprinting towards the post. Things could have been different if Preeja and Kavita made their “move” earlier. But the TN girl shows a fighting spirit and gave a trying moment for the country’s top two distance queens. While Kavita was able to overcome the challenge, Preeja gave up the waning moments and thus allowed Surya to take the second place. “We really do not have an intention to run a fast race. We just returned to practice after a lay-off. Our main objective is to win a medal at the continental meet in Japan” was the reaction of Kavita after the race.
Asian junior champion Suresh Kumar Patel made an all out effort to win the men’s 5000m, clocking a career best 14:11.47.
Delhi thrower Saurabh Vij won the shot put by tossing the iron ball to 18.99m. The women’s pole vault witnessed a see-saw battle between local girl Khyathi and Kerala’s Remya. Both scaled an identical 3.40m but Remya got the gold medal on ‘count-back’.
A rain-marred men’s high jump event was won by Jithin Thomas, who represents Maharashtra here. Two Tamil Nadu jumpers Lakshmanan Yogaraj and Nikhil Chittarasu also cleared an identical 2.10m, but Jithin with lesser number of failures took the top spot.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Bangalore, 12 June 2011
The second day of the National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships at Sree Kanteerava Stadium witnessed the first national record of the meet as Bharatinder Singh of Haryana tabulated 7658 points to better Jora Singh’s five year old mark of 7502 pts.
Arpinder upsets Renjith in triple jump
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh was the cynosure of all eyes as the 18-year-old Punjab athlete upsets national record holder Renjith Maheswary for the second time in four months this year. Arpinder, the Asian junior silver medallist, delivered a stupendous performance as he won the National Games at Ranchi this February with an incredible 16.62m. Following it he toured to China for the Asian Grand Prix series last month and is in top form on the Sunday evening.
Renjith, who changed his domicile from Kerala to Tamil Nadu, was unlucky on the other hand as he could manage only 15.96m this evening. Arpinder landed at 16.32m for the gold while Maharashtra’s Bipin Dev took the bronze with a jump of 15.86m.
Ramachandran posts new mark in steeplechase
Tamil Nadu got its second gold through Army runner Ramadas Ramachandran. Running a tactical race, Ramachandran made a gallant effort to win the event with a personal best and new meet record time of 8:42.58. Manipur’s Sanjit Luwang (8:44.26) and Haryana athlete Jaiveer (8:45.16) have made a desperate effort to catch him but the TN runner was yards away before they fill the gap.
O.P. Jaisha, running under Punjab colours, once again triumphant in the women’s 1500m. Originally hails from Kerala, Jaisha was too good for others as the 28-year-old pulled away in style for a determined win the metric mile from her junior compatriots Jhuma Khatun of Jharkhand and S.R. Bindu from Kerala. Although her timing today (4:21.32) was 10 secs slower than her personal best, it was quite enough for the top spot this evening.
In the men’s race, Ghamanda Ram gave his second best effort (3:48.12) for the victory. The Rajasthan runner is on a come-back trail and is one of the best 800m runners in the country. He set his best mark of 3:46.67 for 1500m, six years ago at Jamshedpur. Pranjal Gogoi, representing Maharashtra, and Haryana runner Sandeep were the next two finishers in this race.
Sameer, Priya fastest
As expected Kerala sprinters Sameer Mon and P.K. Priya took the 100m crown for men and women divisions clocking 10.58 and 11.97 secs respectively.
Asian games gold medallist hurdler A.C. Ashwini brought cheer to the home-crowd as she easily put aside her opposition to win the 400m run in 52.82 secs. Recovering from an injury Ashwini showed courage and dedication as she made a brilliant run to push the fancied Mandeep Kaur of Punjab and Jauna Murmu of Orissa to minor placings. S.K. Mortaza proved his mettle to take the men’s race in 47.05 secs.
Earlier in the morning, national record holder Deepmala Devi (Jharkhand) won the women’s 20000m walk with a modest time of 1 hr. 47 min. 19.29 secs. The men’s title went to Madhya Pradesh’s Maniram Patel in 1 hr. 29 min. 35 secs.
The men’s pole vault event, which concluded late yesterday evening, was won by K.P. Bimin of Kerala. He scaled 4.95m to push his nearest rival N. Vadivelu of Tamil Nadu who did 4.90m.
Punjab got the third gold of the day through Commonwealth silver medallist Harwant Kaur as she won the women’s discus throw from Krishna Poonia of Rajasthan. Harwant set out the disc to 58.78m as Krishna quit the competition early after a customary 55.45m. “She is just recovered from the injury and need some rest before the big event like the Asian championships” was her husband-cum-coach Virender Poonia’s reaction while asking about her performance today.
/ Ram. Murali Krishnan /
Bangalore, 11 June 2011
The opening day’s proceedings in National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships witnessed a shower of blessings from the sky as the meet was inaugurated by R. Ashok, the Hon’ble Minister for Home and Transport, Government of Karnataka, on Saturday evening.
Of the seven finals on the card, two events caught the eyes of the spectators, both from women’s division in long jump and 10000m.
Mayookha Johny, who recently become the first Indian woman to cross the 14m mark in triple jump, was back in action at the long jump pit. Her state-mate from Kerala, M.A. Prajusha, add colour to the contest as the duo promised to provide an exciting contest from the beginning. Mayookha, who had an incredible 6.64m while winning last year’s Asian All-Stars Athletics Meet at New Delhi, was trying to attain the World championship qualifying norm of 6.65m here. She started her campaign with a 6.63m opening jump, which eventually bettered Anju Bobby George’s five year old meet mark by 10 cm, and fetch her gold medal today. Compatriot Prajusha was second with 6.47m while Delhi’s Shalu Chaudhry took the bronze in 6.24m.
It was only the second competition in this event for Mayookha this year, who earlier become the National Games champion with a modest 6.26m jump at Ranchi this February. “I feel very good. I wanted to forget the bitter memories of not winning a major medal last season” Mayookha told after the event. She was sixth at the Commonwealth Games and seventh in the Asian Games last year. It was the second time she missed the World’s qualifying mark in long jump, but optimistic about making it at the Asian championship in Kobe, next month. Mayookha is going for a double as she takes part in triple jump on Monday.
A sweat revenge for Preeja
In yet another exciting contest, Preeja Sreedharan pips training partner Kavita Raut from Maharashtra in the 10,000m for women. The Kerala girl avenged her defeat to Kavita at the national games. Kavita had a golden double at Ranchi. Preeja is the national record holder in both 5000 and 10000m run. She clocked 34:33.48 for the evening’s win while Kavita was just 0.16 secs slower for the silver medal. Tamil Nadu runner Surya Loganathan was a distant third in 35:27.18.
Tamil Nadu got its first gold of the day through javelin thrower S. Saraswathy. She outclassed the fancied Suman Devi. Saraswathy sent the spear to 52m while Suman’s best of the day measured to 48.95m only.
With the country’s top rung discus thrower Vikas Gowda is busy competing at the elite meets in the United States, young Delhi boy Arjun annexed the men’s crown with a modest 53.56m. Arjun was the Asian Youth Games champion in this event. Two days ago at Chula Vista, California, Vikas hurled the discus to a season’s best 64.91m, which was just 5 cm short of his national mark he sets four years ago.
Rajasthan’s Manju Bala had the top honours in women’s hammer throw. Her 55.94m throw outclassed the 54.88m mark registered by the leading Kerala thrower Anitha Abraham. Rajasthan got the second gold of the day as distance runner Kheta Ram become the newest champion in men’s 10000m with a time of 29:20.35. Uttar Pradesh junior Suresh Kumar Patel was a close second in 29:25.42.
National Youth Athletics Championships
Navtejdeep’s big toss put him on top; Sunanda adjudged best among girls
Ranchi, 29 May 2011:
Shot putters used to bring glory to the country in big stage and Navtejdeep Singh is expected to join the big list sooner. The 16-year-old from Punjab tossed the iron ball to a record distance of 19.34m and thus ensured an entry in the national team for World Youth Championships. Delhi boy Sanjeev, who finished second here with a throw of 18.37m, also surpassed the qualifying mark of 17.60m. Navtejdeep’s performance brought him the Best Athlete title among the boys in the 8th National Youth Championships which concluded at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium here on Sunday evening.
Sunanda Sarkar of Bihar, who won the fastest girl title by winning the 100m on the opening day, lost the 200m to Tamil Nadu’s Archana Suseendran this evening. However she had the satisfaction of taking the Best Athlete title for girls. Haryana sprinter Jatin Jain won the boys 200m race.
Durgesh Kumar Pal, the ace Maharashtrian hurdler, who ranked second in the World last year with an incredible silver medal winning 50.81 secs at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last year went on to post a meet mark in boys 400m hurdles clocking 51.49 secs. He is a definitive medal prospect for the country in the forthcoming World meet at France.
Distance runner Indrajeet Patel, another athlete represented India at Singapore in last August, had a comfortable win over 3000m. However his time this evening (8:26.55) was more than 11 seconds slower than what he achieved at YOG (8:15.02). Patel’s teammate from Uttar Pradesh, hammer thrower Ali Ahmed, was another easy victor in his respective event with a mark of 63.32m. Ali already assured the Lille qualification with a throw of 64.34m while winning the youth boys’ gold during the national junior championships at Bangalore in last December.
As expected the boys’ triple jump event witnessed a keen contest between Tamil Nadu jumper Mohammed Salahuddin, son of former national champion and SAF Games winner Mohammed Nizammuddin, and Haryana lad Sandeep Singh. At the end of the day Sandeep emerged as a winner with his 15.33m hop, step and jump while Salahuddin settled with a silver medal by jumping 9 cm lesser. Both the jumpers improved the meet mark and also made the Youth Worlds grade.
Haryana walker Kuldeep has improved his own meet mark in 10000m race walk with a new time of 45:45.60. Four other walkers who finished behind Kuldeep also bettered the previous record.
Haryana adjudged the overall champions of the above meet with Kerala finished runners-up.
Haryana boys Sandeep, Naveen and Kundan set record victories
Athletes from upper India had a field day today as boys and girls from Punjab and Haryana won most of the medals at stake on the second day of 8th National Youth Athletics championships here at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium.
Punjab’s Navjeet Kaur proved she is a cut above the rest by wresting the discus throw title with a remarkable 44.20m. She could not better her state-mate Prabhjot Kaur’s record (45.08m) set in Madurai two years ago. However Navjeet achieved the qualifying standard for the World Youth Championships to be held at Lille-Metropole in July. Her nearest rival Suman Devi of Haryana was almost 10m behind!
Haryana athlete Sandeep ran a splendid 400m in a record time of 47.65 secs while his state-mate Kundan eclipsed another mark in pole vault by scaled 4.41m. Sandeep made the world qualifier but Kundan was unlucky this time.
Another athlete from the state eclipsed the record in javelin throw for boys. Naveen Kumar led a 1-2 for Haryana by hurling the spear to a record distance of 70.02m. His colleague Abhishek followed suit with a 68.05 throw.
Southern state of Tamil Nadu alo had some cheer as Anburaja won the boys’ long jump with a 7.28m leap, 13 cm above the basic qualifying limit for the World meet.
Bengal girl Priyanka Mondal won the 400m in 57.20s, as also her teammate Shipu Mondal in triple jump (12.11m).
Uttarakhand’s Harish Koranga ran a well calculated 1500m to win the event in a noteworthy 3:57.95 from favourite Andhra runner Yerram Naidu who finished second in 3:58.04.
Kerala star M.D. Thara collected a double by adding the 1500m gold to her 3000m title which she won yesterday. However she was second time unlucky for not making the Youth Worlds grade.
Earlier in the morning Punjab’s Shanthi Kumari walked to gold in a record time of 26:45.41 in 5000m.
Ram. Murali Krishnan
Kerala’s Jijin Vijayan and Bihar’s Sunanda Sarkar outclassed their opposition to emerge the fastest boy and girl in the 8th National Youth Championships which begun at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium here on Friday.
As much as 394 athletes from across the country are taking part in this three day meet which is being served as the “selection trials” for the young aspirants looking forward to take part in the World Youth Championships at Lille, France, in July this year.
Both Jijin (11.23 secs) and Sunanda (12.31 secs) have dipped under the qualifying norms fixed by the International Association of Athletics Federations for the World meet. But the selection of the national team will be announced only after the selection committee meets at Delhi in next month.
Haryana lad Sachin pushed favourite Sikanderjit Singh of Punjab to second place in discus throw. Sachin’s effort (53.32m) was 32 cm above the qualifying standard. However Sikander, who throw the disc to 52.26m today, have already achieved the norm while taking the youth (under-18) title during the Junior Nationals at Bangalore in last December with a fine performance of 54.14m. The IAAF’s qualifying period runs from 1st January 2010 to 20th June 2011.
Hosts Jharkhand have something to cheer as Amit Kumar Singh clocked a superlative 14.33 secs to win the 110m hurdles. Amit missed the meet mark by just two-hundredths of a second but had the satisfaction of making the Lille qualifier as well as winning the gold here in front of his home-crowd.
Other notable winner of the day was distance runner M.D. Thara from Kerala. The national cross-country champion lacks competition and thus missed an opportunity to set a meet mark. Her time of 10:16.93 was almost 10 seconds faster than her nearest rival Meena Kumari of Haryana (10:27.77). Thara’s teammate Jessy Joseph won the 800m in 2:15.85.
The boys’ 800m was a close affair with Mandeep Goyat of Maharashtra breach the tape first in 1:58.46. Uttar Pradesh’s Radhey Shyam pips local runner Ravi Pratap Singh at the post 1:58.72 to 1:58.73 for the second place.
Punjab’s Ketki Sethi won the girls shot put with a heave measured to 12.18m while U.P. girl Nisha Yadav sent the ball and chain to 39.72m for the gold in hammer throw.
In the boys’ high jump, Delhi’s Rahul and Haritesh Kumar of Uttar Pradesh cleared an identical height of 2m, but the former adjudged winner on count-back.