Ranchi: Three women took the limelight on the third and penultimate day of the 53rd National Open Athletics Championships at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium here on Monday evening.
Tamil Nadu hurdler Gayathry Govindaraj, who barely missed a podium finish in Asian championships at Pune, reassured her position at the national scene as she clocked the second fastest time in her career (13.70 secs) to win the women’s 100m hurdles this evening. Asian bronze medallist Hemasree Jayabal (LIC) finished second in 14.19 secs.
Gayathry, a double silver medallist in Commonwealth Youth Games five years ago also had a silver from the Asian junior championships at Hanoi in 2010. She returned a personal best 13.59 secs while competing in the World junior championships at Moncton later that year. Gayathry, an Engineering student at Anna University, is being trained by P. Nagarajan in Chennai.
Railway hurdler Arumugam Suresh, who earlier lost a chance to figure in the Inter-State finals at Chennai and thus an opportunity to earn a place on the Indian Team to Asian championships, come back with a bang to win the men’s 110m hurdles in a noteworthy 14.19 secs well ahead of Kuppusamy Premkumar (14.34s), another TN athlete whom preferred to represent Andhra Pradesh in the Open Nationals. Suresh recently joined the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory along with ace long jumper Kumaravel Prem Kumar.
Horizontal jumper M.A. Prajusha was the second athlete to capture the eyes of the little but knowledgeable fan crowd as she added her second gold in triple jump with a decent 12.91m leap. On the opening day of the championships she got the long jump gold. It was her second “double” in the Open Nationals. Earlier she did this honour in 2009 at Bhopal. It was also her second outing in triple jump this year after the Inter-Railway victory at Delhi with a season’s best 13.29m.
Asian silver medallist Sudha Singh gave Railways its third gold as she bettered her own meet mark in 3000m steeplechase clocking 10 minutes 9.04 secs. Jaiveer Singh won the men’s race, a first for him in the Open Nationals and 34th for the Services team!
In women’s pole vault Khyati Vakharia (ONGC) continued her winning spree by defends her gold from arch-rival and national record-holder V.S. Sureka (Railways).
Arjun Kumar annexed his first ever win the championships by taking the discus throw gold. High jumper Jithin C. Thomas defends his title from Chennai, however his winning mark was 11 cm short from the last edition.
An injury sustained during the long jump event forced Nikhil Chittarasu withdrew from the high jump final and hence take away the sheen from the competition.
Railways continue to lead the points table while Services standing top on the men’s side.
Results:
MEN:
110m Hurdles (w: -0.2m/s): 1. A. Suresh (Railways) 14.19 secs, 2. K. Prem Kumar (Andhra Pradesh) 14.34, 3. T. Balamurugan (Tamil Nadu) 14.41, 4. J. Surendhar (Tamil Nadu) 14.46, 5. S. Kannan (Services) 14.66, 6. Rony Lukose (Services) 14.93;
3,000m Steeplechase: 1. Jaiveer Singh (Services) 9:00.41, 2. Sachin Patil (Railways) 9:09.12, 3. Karamvir (Services) 9:14.15, 4. Jasveer Singh (Services) 9:16.57, 5. Manju (Police) 9:17.36, 6. Pritam Bind (ONGC) 9:22.36;
High Jump: 1. Jithin C. Thomas (Services) 2.11m, 2. A. Shaiju (Services) 2.08m, 3. Chethan (Karnataka) 2.05m, 4. Supreeth Raj (LIC) 2.05m, 5. Silvarstar (Tamil Nadu), Deependra Singh (Rajasthan) and Harisankar Roy (Jharkhan) 2.00m;
Discus Throw: 1. Arjun (Haryana) 54.10m, 2. Dharam Raj (Services) 50.99m, 3. Karan Singh (Railways) 50.19m, 4. Baljinder Singh (Police) 50.05m, 5. Krishan Kumar (Maharashtra) 50.04m, 6. Uday Singh Chaudhary (Chattisgarh) 49.22m;
20,000m Race Walk: 1. K. Ganapathi (Services) 1:27:18.15, 2. Gurmeet Singh (Railways) 1:28:19.30, 3. Baljinder Singh (Punjab) 1:29:09.08, 4. Chandan Singh (Services) 1:29:19.07, 5. Babubhai Panucha (Services) 1:31:30.40, 6. Maniram Patel (Railways) 1:31:59.99;
WOMEN: 400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma (ONGC) 53.96 secs, 2. Tintu Luka (Railways) 53.98, 3. Chavi Sharawat (Railways) 54.44, 4. Anu Mariam Jose (LIC) 54.59, 5. Ashwini Akkunji (Karnataka) 55.22, 6. Anju Thomas (Police) 56.04;
100m Hurdles (w: -0.7m/s): 1. G. Gayathry (Tamil Nadu) 13.70 secs, 2. J. Hemasree (LIC) 14.19, 3. M.M. Anchu (Railways) 14.31, 4. Meghna Shetty (ONGC) 14.58, 5. Akicha Gazi (Madhya Pradesh) 15.06, 6. Jojimol Joseph (Police) 15.09;
3,000m Steeplechase: 1. Sudha Singh (Railways) 10:09.04 (NMR)(old rec – her own 10:09.56 set in 2010), 2. Lalita Babar (Railways) 10:33.40, 3. Kiran Tiwari (Haryana) 10:52.75, 4. Chinta Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 11:09.93, 5. Jayshri Borge (Police) 11:47.84, 6. Meenu Nirwal (Uttar Pradesh) 12:25.41;
Pole Vault: 1. Khyati Vakharia (ONGC) 3.70m, 2. V.S. Sureka (Railways) 3.60m, 3. Kiranbir Kaur (Police) 3.50m, 4. K.P. Anusha (Railways) 3.40m; Triple Jump: 1. M.A. Prajusha (Railways) 12.91m, 2. V. Neena (Railways) 12.76m, 3. Mareena Joseph (Police) 12.50m, 4. Bhumika Thakur (Punjab) 12.31m, 5. Joyline Mural Lobo (LIC) 12.29m, 6. V.M. Jolly (Universities) 11.92m;
Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (ONGC) 54.35m (NMR)(old rec – 53.77m Gurmeet Kaur 2005), 2. Rupinder Kaur (Police) 48.16m, 3. S. Saraswathy (Railways) 48.07m.
