Tajinder wins the battle of Singhs

Lakshmanan, Surya reign supreme in 5000M run

After unleashing his final throw of the evening, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor did a little jig of delight. The big man knew instantly that he had done enough to win the gold, applying more gloss to a significant season in his career.

On the opening day of the 57th Open National Athletics Championships, the Services shot-putter wasn’t anywhere close to his best. But this competition wasn’t about distances and given the timing of the event and the conditions, a big effort wasn’t expected of him either.

Tajinder’s battle was with another big man of Indian athletics, former Asian champion Om Prakash Singh, representing ONGC. And on this day, the Services man was just ahead, and that too on the final throw.

Om Prakash had led the field with a second-round effort of 18.80 but he was struggling to go farther, cursing and shouting along the way. Then came Tajinder’s moment and he tossed the iron ball past Om Prakash’s mark, touching 18.86 metres.

“I know it isn’t a big throw, I am not happy with it either, but it has been a long season, and I have been travelling a lot,” said Tajinder, who had reached here after winning silver at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabad last week.

Tajinder had crossed the 20M mark this year with a 20.40M effort at Patiala in the Federation Cup and done another 20-plus effort at the Kozanov meet in Almaty, taking big strides forward in his career. “I can do even better, and my aim will be to do better in the coming season,” said the 22-year-old Navy man after nailing his first gold in Open Nationals.

Just as in shot put, the standards were mediocre in other events too. G Lakshmanan and L Surya did their customary double acts in the 5000M on a rainy morning but with unimpressive timings while late in the evening, V Neena, the Asian silver medallist, won the women’s long jump with a 6.35M leap.

Lakshmanan sauntered home in 14:04.21 while Surya triumphed in 16:02.85, earning valuable points for their employers, Services and Railways respectively.

The meet, already devalued by the absence of several stars, suffered a further blow with long jump ace Ankit Sharma pulling out before the qualifying round. The withdrawal of quartermiler P Kunhumohammad further depleted the 400M field, after Mohd Anas and Arokia Rajiv’s non-appearance earlier.

In the women’s 400M, M R Poovamma of ONGC and G K Vijayakumari of Karnataka advanced to the final, scheduled for Tuesday, while in men’s javelin, Davinder Singh also progressed to the final.

Results: Men: 5000M: G Lakshmanan (Services) 14:04.21, 1; Abhishek Pal (Railways) 14:08.38, 2; Mann Singh (Services) 14:08.87, 3.

Shot put: Tajinder Pal Toor (Services) 18.86 metres, 1; Om Prakash Singh (ONGC) 18.80, 2; Jasdeep Singh (Railways) 18.51, 3.

Women: 5000M: L Surya (Railways) 16:02.85, 1; Chinta Yadav (Railways) 16:40.45, 2; Saigeeta Naik (Police) 16:53.97, 3.

High jump: Jinu Maria Manuel (Kerala) 1.78 metres, 1; Angel P Devasia (Kerala) 1.76, 2; Sonu (Railways) 1.76, 3.

Long jump: Neena V (Kerala) 6.35 metres, 1; Priyanka Kerketta (Jharkhand) 6.22, 2; D Aishwarya (Karnataka) 6.16, 3.

Hammer throw: Sarita Singh (Railways) 60.54 metres, 1; Gunjan Singh (Railways) 59.10, 2; Jyoti (Haryana) 57.07, 3.