Mangaluru: The first day’s proceedings at Mangala Stadium witnessed as much as four athletes went past the qualifying guidelines fixed by Athletics Federation of India for the purpose of attaining a ticket to Asian athletics championships to be held at Wuhan (China) next month.

In the opening event of the four-day Federation Cup, women’s 5000m race, Tamil Nadu’s Suriya Loganathan utilized the absence of reigning champion O.P. Jaisha to win the gold with a modest time of 16:55.90. The organizers have provided good accommodation and boarding arrangements for all the athletes. However “there was no one to push me too hard that resulted in to slow timing”, Suriya revealed after the race. It was indeed a close contest between the Suriya and petite P.U. Chitra of Kerala. Chitra finished second in 16:56.29 and Preeti Lamba of filled the podium at 16:56.51 for the bronze. Incidentally Suriya represented the country in the last two Asian championships held at Kobe (2011) and Pune (2013).

The men’s race witnessed keen competition between Army lads G. Lakshmanan and T. Gopi. At the end it was a promotion from last year’s bronze position to gold for Lakshmanan, who clocked an impressive 13:58.40 to earn his berth for the Wuhan-bound team. Gopi, in second place, also did it with 14:03.17 while ONGC’s Suresh Kumar, in spite of clocking a credible 14:03.28, could miss it as a third placer. Defending champion Kheta Ram finished fifth in 14:16.24.

In women’s javelin throw defending champion and Incheon Asian Games bronze medalist Annu Rani made a late report that caused her medal chance in her favourite event. As she came in late, Rani got only one chance on the third round that turned out to be a foul, hence ditched her chance in otherwise easy entry to Wuhan start-list. Suman Devi, silver medalist in 2014 edition, clinched the gold with a throw measured to 54.07m that ensured her a place on the national squad.

Long jumper Mayookha Johny, got back the gold medal after missed out the podium in Patiala last year. Starting with 6.14m, the ONGC jumper led the competition until the last round when Maharashtra’s petit Shraddha Ghule put out a pressure with her 6.21m leap. However the 2011 Asian champion responded well with a decent 6.34m to reserve her seat for the trip to China. Shraddha and Kerala girl V. Neena (6.14m) went home with the minor medals.

Karnataka’s Sahana Kumari pockets her seventh gold medal from the Federation Cup. The 34-year-old veteran and national record-holder got her first ever medal in these championships way back in 2001. A fourth place finisher in the last edition of Asian championships at Pune (2013) with 1.86m, Sahana’s best effort of the day was only 1.76m. Today’s effort placed her only on third place in the all-time list of winners behind discus thrower Neelam J. Singh (9 times) and long jumper Anju B. George (8) in the 19-year-old history of the Fed Cup.