Indian Athletics – News – 52nd Open National Athletics Championships – / By Ram. Murali Krishnan /

Chennai, 11 September 2012 – 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 /

 

Indian Athletics – News