Kerala retain overall championship title in Inter-State Athletics

Kerala retain overall championship title in Inter-State Athletics

Jaisha pockets steeple gold with a national record; Andhra Pradesh eves finish 3rd

Bhopal, August 09 (Pervez Bari): Kerala retained overall championship title while Punjab remained overall runners-up in the Indian National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships which concluded at Patiala on Sunday.
Pankaj Dimri of Uttarakhand for his performance in men's 800m (1:46.86) and Mandeep Kaur of Punjab for her mark of 52.13 in women 400m were adjudged the best athletes of the four-day national championships.
Kerala athletes with eight golds, seven silvers and three bronzes had total 18 medals in their kitty to claim the top spot. Punjab on the other hand with seven golds, four silvers and five bronze medals pocketed in all 16 medals to be in the second place. Haryana garnering 15 medals, a less than Punjab, had to be content with the third spot overall. They had seven golds, three silvers and five bronze medals to their credit.
However, Haryana in the men’s section overshadowed athletes from all the participating 15 Indian states to finish winners with total 11 medals (G- 6, S-3, B-2) in its name. Punjab pocketed total 9 medals (G-3, S-2, B-4) to remain runners-up. Kerala came third with total 7 medals (G-2, S-4, B-1).
Kerala women athletes putting their best foot forward came up with fine display to lay their hands on total 11 medals (G-6, S-3, B-2) in the championship. The women in the process wiped out the deficit of their men’s poor performance so much so that the state team finished first overall in the championship.
Punjab maintaining their tempo finished runners-up in the women category also as they did it in the overall title and the men’s section. Punjab women won total seven medals (G-4, S-2, B-1). Andhra Pradesh eves won in all five medals (G-3, S-1, B-1) to finish third.
Meanwhile, on the final day Kerala’s O.P. Jaisha, an Asian Indoor champion over 1,500m and bronze medalist in 5,000m at the Doha Asiad, created a new national mark 10:03.05 in steeplechase.
Jaisha ran shoulder to shoulder with Sudha Singh, the reigning national record holder, till the last lap and made her move on the bell and increased her tempo when she started approaching the final straight to become an eventual victor to cap it with a new national mark 10:03.05. Sudha was a distant second in 10:14.68.
Jauna Murmu (Orissa), who recently switched over from 400m flat to hurdles, was in a fine form and improved the meet mark with a time of 57.46 secs. However it was a shade away from her personal best and Asian All-Star Meet winning mark of 57.39 secs.
Asian champion Om Prakash Singh of Haryana tossed the iron ball to a distance of 19.99m to prove his mettle in the men’s Shot Put.
Haryana’s Sunil Kumar Singh and Andhra Pradesh sprinter Satti Geetha completed a double. Geetha, a versatile 400m runner in the past and a regular member of national relay quartet in various global competitions, concentrated in 200m at recent times having won silver medals in the Federation Cup at Ranchi and Open Nationals at Kochi this May. After a surprise win over H.M. Jyothi of Karnataka in 100m on the opening day, Geetha comfortably got the top spot in 200m on Sunday evening clocking a modest 24.08 secs.
The Haryana lad Sunil Kumar Singh had similar victories in 5000m on the opening day before completing the double this morning with a victory over 10000m with a time of 29:55.22. (pervezbari@eth.net)