JOIN USRenjith, Sahana shine on return
Two athletes who had failed to shine at the Olympic Games were back in business at the 52nd Open National Athletics Championships here on Tuesday, striking gold with convincing performances on the second day of the competition.
High jumper Sahana Kumari soared to 1.84 metres to win gold for Railways while her team-mate Renjith Maheswary was an impressive winner in the triple jump pit, reaching 16.72 metres for the top spot.
Sahana had failed to qualify for the finals at London while Renjith had an even more miserable time, fouling all his jumps in the qualification round. But they were very much at home on this day at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Sahana’s effort improved her own meet mark by one centimetre.
“I was down with fever after returning from London. It was my duty to win the event here for my department,” said Sahana, who holds the national record at 1.92 metres.
Railways dominated the proceedings and their athletes swept the 100M titles in men’s and women’s sections as well. Manikandan timed 10.60 seconds for the men’s gold while Manisha Dhankar picked up the women’s title in 11.77 seconds. Sahana’s husband BG Nagraj claimed the silver in the men’s 100M, clocking 10.70 seconds.
ONGC’s M R Poovamma defended her 400M title, clocking 53.79 seconds while Arokia Rajiv of Services triumphed in the men’s 400M in 46.57.
Results: Men: 100M: Manikandan (Railways) 10.60 seconds, 1; B G Nagaraj (Railways) 10.70, 2; Debnath Jyoti Shankar (Services) 10.74, 3.
400M: Arokia Rajiv (Services) 46.57 seconds, 1; S K Mortaja (Services) 47.03, 2; Bibin Mathew (Railways) 47.14, 3. 1500M: Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 3:46.69, 1; Chatholi Hamza (Services) 3:47.47, 2; Ravinder Rautela (Police) 3:47.74, 3. Triple jump: Renjith Maheswary (Railways) 16.72 metres, 1; Amarjeet Singh (Railways) 16.03, 2; Arpinder Singh (ONGC) 15.92, 3. Discus: Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 55.34 metres, 2; Prabhjot Singh (Punjab) 53.50, 2; Dharamraj (Services) 52.18, 3. Decathlon: Dayaram (Rajasthan) 6690 points, 1; Raneesh V V (Railways) 6630, 2; Dhaneesh Stephan (Railways) (Railways) 6327, 3.
Women: 100M: Manisha Dhankar (Railways) 11.77 seconds, 1; Sharadha Narayan (Railways) 12.03, 2; Anchu M M (Railways) 12.09, 3. 400M: M R Poovamma (ONGC) 53.79 seconds, 1; Rattandeep Kaur (Police) 54.52, 2; Anu Mariam Jose (LIC) 55.03, 3. 1500M: S R Bindu (Railways) 4:25.58, 1; O P Jaisha (Railways) 4:26.90, 2; Jhuma Khatun (Railways) 4:29.58, 3.
High jump: Sahana Kumari (Railways) 1.84 metres, 1; Siji N K (Railways) 1.73, 2; Mallika Mandal (Railways) 1.70, 3.
Shot put: Pinki Dey (Railways) 12.82 metres, 1; Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 12.75, 2; Saranya J (Kerala) 12.73, 3.
20000M walk: Khushbir Kaur (ONGC) 1:44:55.0, 1; L Deepmala Devi (Railways) 1:49:26.0, 2; Shanti Devi (Punjab) 1:52:53.0, 3.