Poovamma nails gold

Ankit Sharma upstages Prem Kumar in long jump; Tintu wins

In a flash Tintu Luka broke away from the pack in the 800M women’s finals and sprinted unchallenged. For the rest of the race she was competing with herself. The ONGC National Open Athletics Championships, unlike the past years, has only dished out mediocre fare.

Ankit Sharma, meanwhile, brought some cheer by overhauling national record holder Prem Kumar for the gold medal and equalling the 16-year-old meet record of Railways’ Sanjay Kumar Rai. His jump, clocking 7.87 metres, in the penultimate round fetched him the feat.

M Arshad of Services took the silver with a jump of 7.58 while Prem Kumar had to be content with the third place after jumping 7.53 metres.

Most of the top athletes have either pulled out of the year-end meet or are competing only to honour their commitment to their respective departments. With the Championships also not serving as qualification stage for any major tournament, the athletes have little to push themselves. The empty seats at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium speak the rest.

After clocking a timing of 2:03.88, Tintu merely shrugged: “There was no competition. I am here to represent Railways,” said Tintu, who won silver medal in the event at the Asian Games.

Behind her at 2:06.91 was ONGC’s Sini Ajith Markose while Tamil Nadu’s Gomathi came third at 2:07.03.

Watching her ward from the sidelines was former great PT Usha, who felt the importance of the championships has gone down over the years.

In the men’s 800M, Sajesh Joseph of Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) won the gold by clocking 1:49.91, followed by Delhi’s Beant Singh (1:51.08) and ONGC’s Ghamanda Ram (1:51.30 min).

In the women’s 400M, Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist MR Poovamma expectedly finished first with a timing of 53.59, well ahead of second-placed Juana Murmu (55.84). C Arya came third, clocking 56.98.

In the 400M men, it was a close fight between Kunhu Mohammed and Arokia Rajiv, both from Services. Kunhu, however, nosed ahead by 0.2 seconds (46.97 seconds) to win the gold.  Rajiv (46.99) and Bibin Mathew (47.83) bagged silver and bronze respectively.

Men: 100M: Manikanda Arumugam (RSPB) 10.56 seconds,1; Amiya Kumar Mallick (ORI) 10.61, 2; Jyothi Shankar 10.65, 3. 400M: Kunhu Mohammed (SSCB) 46.97 seconds, 1; Arokia Rajiv (SSCB) 46.99, 2; Bibin Mathew (RSPB) 47.83,3. 800M: Sajesh Joseph (RSPB) 1:49.91 seconds, 1; Beant Singh (DEL) 1:51.08, 2; Ghamanda Raa (ONGC) 1:51.30, 3. Long jump: Ankit Sharma (LIC) 7.87metres, 1; M Arshad (SSCB) 7.58, 2; K. Prem Kumar (RSPB) 7.53,3. Shot put: Kashish Khanna (WB) 18.59, 1; Jasdeep Singh 18.09 (ONGC) 18.09, 2; Ashwani Solanki (17.31) 3. Javelin throw: Rohit  Kumar (ONGC) 72.30, 1; Devender Singh (SSCB) 72.21, 2; Amit Kumar (SSCB) 72.16, 3.

Women: 100M: Sharada N (RSPB) 12.21, 1; Anchu MM (RSPB) 12.22, 2; Sajitha KV (KER) 12.24, 3. 400M: MR Poovamma (ONGC) 53.59, 1; Jauna Murmu (ONGC) 55.84, 2; C Arya (LIC) 56.98, 3.
800M: Tintu Luka (RSPB) 2:11.59, 1; Sini Ajth Markose (ONGC) 2:11.93, 2; Gomathi (TN) 2:12.43, 3.
High jump: Steny Michael (RSPB) 1.73, 1; Mallika Mondal (RSPB) 1.70, 2; G Mary Shaline (Mani) 1.70, 2.
Long jump: Neena V (RSPB) 6.29, 1; Shraddha Bhaskar (ONGC) 6.18, 2; Tanjila Khatun (RSPB) 5.99,3.