JOIN USBibin's surge eclipses Binu's return
K M Binu’s comeback was tipped to be the highlight of the track programme, but on a sultry evening at the Nehru Stadium, another runner of promise decided it was his time to make a statement.
Form and fitness were on his side and cashing in on those attributes, Bibin Mathew powered to victory in the 400M, putting Binu to shade in the second Indian Grand Prix on Friday.
Bibin’s career-best performance highlighted the evening’s programme which also saw the athletes raising the bar by a notch or two from their efforts in the inaugural meet in Kochi last week. There was another personal best for H M Jyothi – in the 200M this time – while P T Usha’s ward Tintu Luka chose the day to notch her first win at the senior level, in the women’s 400M. A rusty Binu paid the price for faulty judgement at the start of the race. He took off slowly and had to play catch-up after the first 200. Bipin, with a win under his belt, led comfortably into the straight and was never threatened while it was a struggle for Binu to hold onto his third spot behind S K Mortaza.
The 22-year-old Bibin timed 46.47 seconds, improving his previous best of 46.81 timed at the Open Nationals last season. “It was nice,” said the Railway employee from Kerala while a disappointed Binu felt he needed more races to get back into rhythm. “It was too bad, too bad,” he said. “I was expecting to clock below 47 seconds here.”
Krishna Poonia maintained her winning run in women’s discus with a 58.95M throw, a slight improvement over her Kochi effort of 57.74. “I was expecting somewhere near 59 metres, so it’s not bad,” said Krishna. Just as in Kochi, Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur were second and third, with throws of 55.35 and 54.01 respectively.
As promised, Jyothi clocked 24.13 seconds to improve upon her previous best of 24.21 in the women’s 200 while in the 400, Tintu timed 54.81 in the ‘B’ race, outsmarting the experienced bunch clubbed together in the ‘A’ race.
M A Prajusha’s 6.34 metres in the long jump pit too was a career-best effort. In a field of just two athletes, Prajusha was deprived of an even better mark due to a dodgy landing in the second jump, her winning effort on the day.
Results: Men: 200M: Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (ONGC) 21.25 seconds, 1; Vilas Neelgund (Railways) 21.57, 2; Ritesh Anand (Jharkhand) 21.64, 3.
400M: Bibin Mathew (Railways) 46.47 seconds, 1; S K Mortaza (Services) 47.26, 2; K M Binu (Kerala) 47.31, 3. 1500M: Chatholi Hamza (Services) 3:45.34, 1; Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) 3:49.35, 2; Ravinder (Railways) 3:50.81, 3. 5000M: Surinder Singh (Services) 13:49.60, 1; Sandeep Batham (Railways) 14:08.50, 2; Elam Singh (Services) 14:09.13, 3.400M hurdles: Joseph Abraham (Railways) 50.88 seconds, 1; Kuldev Singh (Punjab Police) 51.43, 2; Avin A Thomas (Railways) 51.90, 3. Triple jump: Deepan Kumar (Railways) 15.77 metres, 1; Amarjeet Singh (Railways) 15.19, 2; Saurabh Singh (Police) 15.61, 3.High jump: Jiten C Thomas (Services) 2.15 metres, 1; Hari Shankar Roy (Railways) 2.10, 2; Benedict Starley (Tamil Nadu) 2.10, 3.
Shot put: Satyender Singh (Railways) 18.20 metres, 1; Naveen Singh (Railways) 16.61, 2; Adi Alfuddin (Malaysia) 16.00, 3. Discus throw: Simranjeet Singh (BSF) 54.07 metres, 1; Vikash Poonia (Rajasthan) 50.60, 2; Kripal Singh (Punjab) 50.37, 3.
Women: 200M: H M Jyothi (Andhra Pradesh) 24.13 seconds, 1; Sharda Narain (Railways) 24.46, 2; K Sowjanya (Andhra Pradesh) 24.63, 3. 400M: Tintu Luka (Kerala) 54.81 seconds, 1; K Mridula (Andhra Pradesh) 55.76, 2; Priyanka Panwar (Railways) 56.65, 3. 1500M: Sushma Devi (Railways) 4:28.67, 1; Priyanka Patel (Railways) 4:29.04, 2; Bindu S R (Railways) 4:29.39, 3. 5000M: Kavita Raut (ONGC) 18:03.11, 1; Preeja Sreedharan (Railways) 18:06.03, 2; O P Jaisha (Railways) 18:12.08, 3. Long jump: Prajusha M A (Kerala) 6.34 metres, 1; Resmi Bose (Railways) 6.28, 2.
Discus throw: Krishna Poonia (Railways) 58.95 metres, 1; Seema Antil (CRPF) 55.35, 2; Harwant Kaur (Punjab Police) 54.01, 3.