Harshith soars to new high

Rebecca pips Nirupama to claim girls under-20 100M title

The lanky high jumper raised the bar yet again and as he landed firmly on the jumping pit, another record had bit the dust. Harshith won the boys’ under-18 high jump with a leap of 2.11 metres, improving his own mark by a whopping ten centimetres.

No surprises there, for he had achieved a personal best of 2.10 at the School Games in Pune last year, but for the ambitious jumper, even the height he touched on the day — equalling the Senior record set by MV Nagendra Prasad in 1987 —  fetched little joy.

“I should have cleared 2.14,” was the response from the 18-year-old II PU student of MES College. He missed it, only narrowly, after sailing over the bar at 2.11 metres on his second attempt. Just to put his achievement in perspective, the gold at the Inter-State meet in July at the same venue had gone to Jithin Thomas at 2.10 metres.

Harshith will be making his appearance in the Senior ranks too this time, with the event scheduled for the final day, when he will get another shot at Prasad’s record.

The opening day also saw Nirupama Sunderraj, the favourite in the girls’ under-20 100 metres, being beaten by Rebecca Jose of DYSS. Rebecca bettered Bindu Rani’s 2003 record of 12.0 seconds, timing 11.8.

“I wasn’t thinking about the record. I just wanted to run a good race,” said Rebecca, a second-year B Com student of Surana College.

Nirupama, who will be travelling to the United States on a sports scholarship next week, clocked 11.9 and said she won’t be running the 200 metres here.

Among the record-breakers on the first day was the men’s 4x400M relay quartet of Damodaran, Bharath, Roshan and Imtiaz. The foursome from the Indian Athletic Academy, started by former MEG coach Capt (retd) C Muralidharan, clocked 3:18.3 to erase the 11-year-old mark of 3:20.1 set by MEG, just before heavy rains forced the postponement of a few events scheduled late in the evening.

Results: Men: 800M: Dibin Davis (MEG) 1:55.5, 1; Prakash Verma (Fusion Athletica) 1:55.7, 2; Bharath KA (Indian Athletic Academy) 1:56.1, 3. Triple jump: Veesham Singh (MEG) 15.06 metres, 1; Anish Kumar (MEG) 14.98, 2; Sachin (Arjun Track & Field) 13.38, 3. Javelin: Purander PJ (Corporation Bank) 66.15 metres, 1; Shamitha Suvarna (Dakshina Kannada) 62.95, 2; Tippanna (MEG)    62.69, 3.

4x400M relay: Indian Athletic Academy 3:18.3 (NMR. Old: 3:20.1, MEG, 2000), 1; MEG ‘A’ (3:18.7, BMR), 2;  MEG ‘B’ 3:22.8, 3.

Boys: Under-20: 800M: Naveen GS (DYSS Bangalore) 1:59.9, 1; Uthpal AL (Alvas) 2:01.9, 2; Trupati AL (Bagalkote) 2:03.3, 3.

Javelin: Manheeth Vittal (Dakshina Kannada) 54.85 seconds, 1; Pradeep (Dakshina Kannada) 54.78, 2; Natesh (Udupi) 51.12, 3. 4x400M: DKAA 3:22.1, 1; Youngsters Sports Promoters Trust 3:38.4, 2; Davangere 4:22.3, 3. Under-18: 1000M: Yerrayya (DYSS, Bangalore) 2:38.08, 1; Vimay N (Sagathi Sports Academy) 2:39.5, 2; Bhimappa (Dakshina Kannada) 2:41.01, 3.
High jump: S Harshith (Bangalore Sports Club) 2.11 metres (NMR. Old: 2.01 metres, Harshith, 2010), 1; Hamdan Faiz (Dakshina Kannada) 1.85, 2; Manjunath PM (Alvas) 1.83, 3. Discus throw: Sudhir RS (Alvas) 40.80 metres, 1; Manoj Kumar (Dakshina Kannada) 40.19, 2; Vikhyath (Dakshina Kannada) 38.39, 3. Under-16: 1000M: Rakesh R (Yuva) 2:35.9, 1; Yallappa (Sports School, Chandargi) 2:42.6, 2; Lokya (Sports School, Chandargi) 2:43.9, 3. High jump: Jesse Sandesh (Arjun Track & Field Club) 1.83 metres, 1; Ravi Teja DS (Arjun Track & Field Club) 1.69, 2; Shravana Kumar (Alvas) 1.66, 3. Discus: Javed (Bijapur) 32.65 metres, 1; Deepak (Hoskote) 31.35, 2; Goutham (Alvas) 30.95, 3.
Under-14: High jump: Nithin Kumar (Dakshina Kannada) 1.58 metres, 1; Abhiram Natarajan (Bangalore Sports Club) 1.51, 2; Md Rahil (Dakshina Kannada) 1.48, 2;
Women: 100M: Manjushree (SAI Bangalore) 12.0 seconds, 1; Shreya Deshpande (STS Belgaum) 13.0, 2; Shalini Naik (Dakshina Kannada) 13.1, 3. 800M: Shruthi KC (DYSS Bangalore) 2:18.5, 1; Indira BE (SAI Bangalore) 2:22.6, 2; Smitha C (Alvas) 2:29.1, 3. Shot put: Neelam (South Western Railway) 12.17 metres, 1; Suma Gopalakrishna (Canara Bank) 11.56, 2; Pallavi Sukumar (Indo-German) 11.47, 3. Javelin: Shahjahani (DYSS Mysore) 42.44, 1; Hemalatha (Railways) 38.90, 2; Sujatha Nayak (Canara Bank) 22.58, 3.

Girls: Under-20: 100M: Rebecca Jose (DYSS Bangalore) 11.8 seconds (NMR. Old: 12.0 sec), 1; Nirupama Sunderraj (Indo-German) 11.9, 2; Bebi Sumuya (DYSS Mysore) 12.1, 3. 800M: Sowmya Savanth (Youngsters Sports Promoters Trust) 2:21.6, 1; Bhavya K (SDM Ujjire) 2:22.5, 2; Akshatha PL (Alvas) 2:28.5, 3.  Shot put: Sadhana B (Mount Carmel College) 8.92 metres, 1; Kavya Prabhu (Udupi) 8.85, 2; Himani P Hegade (Udupi) 8.45, 3.
Javelin: Madhukeshwar G (Alvas) 29.64, 1; Vibha B Shankar (Alvas) 17.20, 2.
Under-18: 1000M: Priyanka V (SAI Bangalore) 3:02.9, 1; Supritha (Alvas) 3:04.6, 2; Farheem H Shaikh (STS Club Belgaum) 3:05.6, 3.
High jump: Sushmitha (Dakshina Kannada) 1.49 metres, 1; Ramya P (Dakshina Kannada) 1.46, 2; Pallavi (Udupi) 1.46, 3.
Javelin: Rashmi K (Alvas) 39.20 (NMR, Old: 38.78) 1; Prathvi (Udupi) 35.39, 2; Priyanka BT (Alvas) 27.50, 3.
Medley relay: DYSS Mysore 2:25.5, 1; Alvas  2:34.2, 2; SAI Madikeri 2:36.3, 3.
Under-16: 1000M: Archana KA (SAI, Madikeri) 3:11.9, 1; Likhitha AA (Alvas) 3:13.8, 2; Mridula A Halgukar (Belgaum) 3:14.4, 3.
Javelin: Namitha GK (Alvas) 26.18 metres, 1; Sunitha Bhaskar (Mary Immaculate) 24.70, 2; Payal Kela (Inventure Academy) 20.34, 3.
Medley relay: DYSS 2:26.3, 1; Dakshina Kannada 2:26.8, 2; SAI Madikeri 2:28.3, 3.