Indian Athletics – National Inter-State Athletics Championships Day 4 / By Ram. Murali Krishnan /

Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 7 June 2013 – Tamil Nadu triple jumper Renjith Maheswary was the second athlete to earn a berth to the Moscow Worlds after he leapt 16.98m on the final day of National Inter-State Athletics championships which concluded at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Friday evening.  In that process he also bettered his own meet mark of 16.73m set at the same venue four years ago.

Renjith was the Asian champion in 2007 at Amman, Jordan, with a wind-aided 17.19m.  He went on to jump a legal best of 17.07m while winning the bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games at Delhi three years ago.

Started his quest with a leap of 16.47m in the first round, Renjith made a big one with 16.98m on his third attempt – his best in three years – and logged a confirmative 16.96m on fifth.   Arpinder Singh of Punjab, training partner and close competitor of Renjith, finished second with 16.47m while junior lad Mohammed Salahuddin took the bronze in 15.57m. 

Arpinder pushed Renjith to second spot to when he won the Federation Cup at Patiala with a personal best 16.84m.  Renjith had a silver winning 16.83m during the Asian Grand Prix at Bangkok on 4th May when Kazakh jumper Roman Valiyev made a season best 17.10m.

“This year started well for me.  I wish to erase the bitter memories of London Olympics where I ended up with three failures” Renjith told the reporters after the event.  Expressing his confidence to win a medal at the forthcoming Asian championships in Pune, Renjith went on to tell that he would be competing in athletics until 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro.

 Double for Asha and Jaisha

Sprint queen Asha Roy and distance runner O.P. Jaisha completed a “double” each in their respective categories.  The Bengal runner clinched the 200m title clocking 23.59 secs from fancied Dutee Chand of Orissa (24.03s) to add her 100m gold which she won on the opening day.    Newcomer Pratiek Ninawe of Maharashtra claimed the men’s gold in a photo-finish from Jharkhand’s Ritesh Anand 21.65 to 21.66 secs.

Jaisha, representing Punjab, had won the metric mile after locked in to a battle with Sinimole A. Markose (nee Paulose) of Karnataka.  Jaisha won in 4:16.78 as against Sinimole’s 4:17.53.  Incidentally both the runners originated from Kerala. 

In the women’s 400m hurdles Tamil Nadu’s Elavarasi won the numero uno spot with a time of 60.70 secs.  Basically a sprinter, the Indian Bank staffer switched to hurdling recently and went away with the gold in the Federation Cup.  What made her unique today was it coincided with her first anniversary.  “I wish to dedicate it to my husband and that was the reason I desperately want to win the event” the smiling princess explained after the race.  Her husband Manika Raj was a sprinter who won a bronze medal in 100m on the opening day representing Andhra Pradesh as he is having a domicile in that state as a South Central Railway employee.   The couple gets training under former national champion Srinivas in Hyderabad.

 Reigning champions Satinder Singh (Punjab, 400m hurdles), Sandeep (Haryana, 1500m) and Khetan Ram (Rajasthan, 10000m) successfully defends their title from the last edition held at Hyderabad.

 In discus throw Delhi-based Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Arjun continued his winning streak.

Earlier in the morning Asian Games gold medallist and national record-holder Preeja Sreedharan, returning to competition after her wedding, pockets the gold in women’s 10000m clocking 34:38.28.  Local girl Suriya Loganathan pushed Maharashtra’s Monica Athare to win the silver in 35:22.31.

 Beijing Olympian Sushmita Singha Roy logged 5164 points for a ‘hat-trick’ in heptathlon with 5164 points.

In the 4x400m relay Kerala team got disqualified after their anchor P. Kunhu Mohammed completes the race without the baton which he dropped 50m before the finish-line. Jharkhand took the title in 3:11.03 while Kerala girls bring the curtain down to the four-day meet when taking the women’s crown in 3:40.74.

Kerala won the overall title (172.5 points) and women’s championship (112.5 points) while hosts Tamil Nadu were triumphant in the men’s division with 79 points.

TN triple jumper Renjith Maheswary and UP steeplechaser Sudha Singh adjudged ‘best athletes’ of the meet in the men and women sections respectively.

 / Ram. Murali Krishnan /

 

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