Ponnappa, Sunitha clinch 800M titles

In the men’s 800m, UG Ponnappa held his nerve in a tense last lap to outpace the challenge of Chetan D of KLE College of Engineering to win gold at 2:06.6 seconds while Chetan grabbed silver at 2:07.7. Amit Patil settled for bronze at 2:10.8s. The men’s 5000 metre saw Abhilash of MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology going home with the gold while Shivakumar SB pocketed silver at 17:54.7 and Naveen Kumar DB bagged bronze (18:23.3s).

The highlight in the women’s section was the 800 metre event that saw defending champion Sunitha retaining her gold with a timing of 2:44.9 to win the race quite comfortably. The 23-year-old Shimoga native said she was not happy with her performance though as she won with her worst timing. “I am disappointed as I was actually looking to break the meet record,’’ Sunitha added.

Archana Suregaonkar of MSRIT won the silver at 2:45.6 while Jayalakshmi Shekharan C had to be content with bronze clocking 2:49.5s. 

Results: Men: 800M: UG Ponnappa (VVIET) 2:06.6, 1; Chetan D (KLE College of Engineering) 2:07.7, 2; Amit Patil (GIT) 2:10.8, 3.

5000M: Abhilash (MSRIT) 17: 49.4s, 1; Shivakumar SB (BVBCET) 17:54.7s, 2; Naveen Kumar DB (Govt Engineering College) 18:23.3, 3.

Women: 800M: Sunitha Kumari BK (Reva Institute of Technology) 2:44.9, 1; Archana Suregaonkar (MSRIT) 2:45.6, 2; Jayalakshmi Shekharan C (Sahyadri College of Engineering) 2:49.5, 3.

5000M: Harshitha N (Govt Engineering College) 24:05.1, 1; Shilpa (BMSCE) 26:37.5, 2; Rajeshwari DA (BIET) 27:12.8, 3.

High jump: Mariet S Furtado (PACE) 1.47M, 1; Sneha PJ (DBIT) 1.40M, 2; Poornima M (GSSIT) 1.25M, 3. Javelin Throw: Ashwini Kumari B (Sahyadri College of Engineering) 23.33M, 1; Lavanya SN (GAT) 21.66M, 2; Akhila B (VCET) 20.43M, 3.