Athira Surendran’s national record in triple jump highlighted the penultimate day’s action at the 29th Junior National Athletics Championships while Karnataka struck gold two times to improve their position on the medals table at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Jagadeesh Chandra in the under-20 400M hurdles and Nivedita Sawant in the under-16 discus throw were the ones scripting success stories for the hosts on a day when three national records came crashing down. In that group, Athira stood out with a personal best effort of 12.86 metres that erased Gayathri Govindarajan’s record of 12.78 metres in the under-18 girls section.
Jagadeesh, a trainee of B P Aiyappa, also clocked a career best of 52.67 seconds while winning the gold medal, after timing 53.14 seconds in the semifinals.
The UP-born hurdler was in control throughout the race and finished well ahead of Madhya Pradesh’s Punit Kumar, who won the silver in 54.32 seconds. “I shifted base to Bangalore because of the better coaching here and looks like I will continue here,” said the 19-year-old who hails from Badhohi district.
Karwar girl Nivedita was confidence personified in the discus circle as she won the gold with an effort of 37.08 metres. It was her second medal of the day, after a silver in the shot put, with an effort of 12.76 metres. A student of St Michael’s Convent High School, Nivedita, coached by Prakash Revankar, has been dominating the age group events and had achieved a throw of 40 metres in the National School Games last year.
Karnataka won two bronze medals as well on the day, through Shimona Mascarenhas in the girls’ under-18 400M hurdles and in the 1000M medley relay for under-18 girls, where the quartet of Anusha M R, Praneetha Pradeep, Megha and G K Vijayakumari came third behind Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
In the under-18 triple jump, Athira, a trainee of Jose Mathew at Sports Authority of India’s Thalassery centre, put behind an injured ankle to emerge winner. A gymnast-trained athlete, Athira was in two minds whether to compete in the triple jump but after failing to medal in long jump, she changed her mind, and surprised herself with her performance.
Tamil Nadu smashed the National record in the under-16 sprint medley relay, timing 1:58.02 while the other national record emerged in boys’ under-18 octathlon, where Amolak Singh won the gold with a tally of 5817 points.
Kerala lead the points table with 444 points followed by Tamil Nadu (276.5) and Haryana (228.5). Karnataka are in fifth spot with 134.5 points.
Results: Boys: Under-20: 400M hurdles: Jagadeesh Chandra (Karnataka) 52.67 seconds, 1; Punit Kumar (MP) 54.32, 2; Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 54.39, 3.
Pole vault: Kundan (Haryana) 4.60 metres, 1; V Vignesh (TN) 4.60, 2; Anuj (Haryana) 4.50, 3. Long jump: Bikramjit Singh (Punjab) 7.54 metres, 1; Suhail P V (Kerala) 7.50, 2; P Anburaja (TN) 7.47, 3. Hammer throw: Kapil Mann (Rajasthan) 63.59 metres, 1; Surendra Kumar (Bihar) 63.57, 2; Gurmeet Singh (Punjab) 63.53, 3. 4x100M relay: Kerala 41.91 seconds, 1; AP 42.72, 2; Haryana 43.16, 3. Decathlon: Ankit Saini (Haryana) 6082 points, 1; A Dinakaran (TN) 6006, 2; Vikas Kaushik (Delhi) 5835, 3.
Under-18: 400M hurdles: Pawan (Haryana) 53.69 metres, 1; Banty Chaudhary (UP) 54.62, 2; Sumit Kumar Jaiswal (Maharashtra) 54.66, 3.
High jump: Ajay Kumar (Haryana) 2.05 metres, 1; Ygant Shekhar Singh (UP) 2.03, 2; Durga Charan (Jharkhand) 2.01, 3.
Pole vault: Kunwar Gyanendra Singh (UP) 4.30 metres, 1; Sumit (Haryana) 4.20, 2; Godwin Damian (Kerala) 4.00, 3.
Discus throw: Nirbhay Singh (Haryana) 59.62 metres (NMR. Old: 59.02, Dinesh Kumar, 2005), 1; Kshetra Pal (UP) 55.15, 2; Amit Kumar (Rajasthan) 51.16, 3.
Sprint medley relay: Tamil Nadu 1:55.47, 1; Haryana 1:56.28, 2; Kerala 1:56.71, 3.
Octathlon: Amolak Singh (Maharashtra) 5817 points (NR. Old: 5808, K Dileep Kumar, 2010), 1; Aftab Alam (Maharashtra) 5622, 2; Muhammed Hafseer P P (Kerala) 5480, 3.
Under-16: Sprint medley relay: Tamil Nadu 1:58.02 (National record. Old: 1:58.99, TN, 2012), 1; Haryana 1:58.19, 2; Delhi 1:58.74, 3.
Pentathlon: R Balakrishnan (TN) 3469, 1; Rahul Sabi (Kerala) 3255, 2; Anuj Sangwan (Haryana) 3246, 3.
Girls: Under-20: 400M hurdles: Jisha V V (Kerala) 1:03.56, 1; Merlin P (Kerala) 1:04.37, 2; P Iniya (TN) 1:04.40, 3.
Long jump: Bhairabi Roy (Bengal) 5.95 metres, 1; Swathy V C (Kerala) 5.71, 2; K Achuta Kumari (AP) 5.69, 3.
4x100M relay: Kerala 47.73, 1; Tamil Nadu 49.64, 2; Bengal 49.69, 3.
Heptathlon: Amrutha M (Kerala) 4296 points, 1; Mareena George (Kerala) 4080 2; Sushita Kisan (Orissa) 3.
Under-18: 400M hurdles: H Kavya (AP) 1:05.33, 1; Gouri Rani Hansda (Bengal) 1:05.68, 2; Shimona Mascarenhas (Karnataka) 1:06.80, 3. Triple jump: Athira Surendran (Kerala) 12.86 metres (National record. Old: 12.78, Gayathri Govindarajan, 2008), 1; V Akshaya Sonasri (TN) 12.44, 2; Jenimol Joy (Kerala) 12.29, 3.
Discus throw: Preeti Rani (Haryana) 40.58 metres, 1; Kamalpreet Kaur (Punjab) 40.30, 2; Renuka (Haryana) 37.68, 3.
Sprint medley relay: Tamil Nadu 2:16.03, 1; Kerala 2:16.99, 2; Karnataka 2:19.00, 3.
Under-16: 3000M: Aleesha P R (Kerala) 10:29.98, 1; Athira K R (Kerala) 10.33.47, 2; Ankita Chaudhary (Uttarakhand) 10:33.76, 3.
Shot put: Gowrishankari (Tamil Nadu) 12.52 metres, 1; Nivedita Sawant (Karnataka) 12.76, 2; P Priyanka (Tamil Nadu) 11.70, 3.
Discus throw: Nivedita Sawant (Karnataka) 37.08 metres, 1; Seema (Haryana) 36.25, 2; Salmi Kispotta (Orissa) 35.41, 3.
Sprint medley relay: Tamil Nadu 2:18.09, 1; Bengal 2:21. 33, 2; Kerala 2:22.34, 3.
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