Bibin, winner in the first two legs at Kochi and Coimbatore, lowered his personal best to a superb 46.16 seconds in the 400M as he won the third leg at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. A little over an hour later, however, Bibin’s Railway team-mate Joseph Abraham produced the performance of the evening, timing 49.59 seconds in the 400M hurdles to qualify for the World Championships in Berlin in August.
Abraham, who had clocked his National record of 49.51 at the Osaka World Championships semifinals in 2007, earned the right to represent India again with an excellent run.
The race was in his pocket well before the finish but he hit the final hurdle, and that dashed his chances of breaking his record. Still, his time was better than the ‘B’ qualifying standard of 49.80 seconds for Berlin.
“I am confident I can improve my timing further, having clocked this time without much competition. But for hitting that last hurdle, I could have timed close to 49.2,” said Abraham.
In the 400M, Bibin had improved his best to 46.47 seconds in Coimbatore and that gave him hope that he could target the qualifying mark of 45.95. He came close after a superbly paced run, though there was none to push him with K M Binu pulling out.
Maha Singh, in pursuit of a record in the long jump pit, failed to achieve it but he had a fine series, with a best of 7.94M. Another notable effort came in the high jump pit, with Hari Shankar Roy sailing past 2.21M.
Meanwhile, the women quartermilers’ struggle continued, with Chitra K Soman and Mandeep Kaur failing to finish. Tintu Luka was once again the best here, with a time of 55.13.
DH News Service
Results: Men: 100M: Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (ONGC) 10.64 seconds, 1; Shameermon (Services) 10.65, 2; Vishal Saxena (Railways) 10.67, 3.
400M: Bibin Mathew (Railways) 46.16 seconds, 1; S K Mortaza (Bengal) 46.69, 2; V B Bineesh (Railways) 47.02, 3.
1000M: Chatholi Hamza (Services) 2:23.12, 1; Ravinder (Railways) 2:23.77, 2; Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) 2:23.97, 3.
110M hurdles: K Krishna Mohan (Andhra Pradesh) 14.28 seconds, 1; P Muthusamy (Tamil Nadu) 14.60, 2; Chris Beethovan (Tamil Nadu) 15.13, 3.
400M hurdles: Joseph Abraham (Railways) 49.59 seconds, 1; Avin A Thomas (Railways) 51.18, 2; P Shankar (ONGC) 51.83, 3.
High jump: Hari Shankar Roy (Railways) 2.21 metres, 1; Benedict Starly (TN) 2.15, 2; Nikhil C (TN) 2.05, 3.
Long jump: Maha Singh (Railways) 7.94 metres, 1; Ankit Sharma (MP) 7.57, 2; Shiv Shanker Yadav (Railways) 7.51, 3.
Shot put: Satyender Singh (Railways) 18.52 metres, 1; Saurav Vij (ONGC) 18.40, 2; Naveen Singh (Railways) 16.38, 3.
Discus: Simranjit Singh (BSF) 54.40 metres, 1; Kripal Singh (Punjab) 50.24, 2; Sunil Kumar (UP) 48.60, 3.
Javelin: Kashi Nath (Services) 77.07 metres, 1; Samarjit Singh (Rajasthan) 71.56, 2; Anil Kumar Singh (UP) 70.93, 3.
4x100M: India A 40.28 seconds, 1; Indian Bank 42.05, 2.
Women:
100M: Sharda Narain (Railways) 11.64 seconds, 1; H M Jyothi (AP) 11.78, 2; K Sowjanya (AP) 11.94, 3.
400M: Tintu Luka (Kerala) 55.13 seconds, 1; K Sowjanya (AP) 55.14, 2; K Mridula (AP) 56.20, 3.
1000M: Sushma Devi (Railways) 2:45.16, 1; O P Jaisha (Railways) 2:45.52, 1; Bindu S R (Railways) 2:48.50, 3.
100M hurdles: G Gayathry (Indian Bank) 13.8 seconds, 1; Sushmita Singha Roy (Railways) 13.9, 2; Darshana M S (Kerala) 14.5, 3.
High jump: Sahana Kumari (Railways) 1.82 metres, 1; Kavya Muthanna (Karnataka) 1.71, 2; Mary Ann C Thariyan (Uttar Pradesh) 1.68, 3.
Triple jump: M A Prajusha (Kerala) 13.51 metres, 1; G Gayathry (Indian Bank) 13.04, 2; Resmi Bose (Railways) 12.70, 3.
Discus: Krishna Poonia (Railways) 56.07 metres, 1; Seema Antil (CRPF) 55.00, 2; Harwant Kaur (Punjab Police) 54.07, 3.
4x100M: India A 46.71 seconds, 1; Indian Bank 49.35, 2.
