JOIN USOn a Sunday devoid of sparks, Sasidhar Harshith struck gold in high jump to bring joy for Karnataka at the Federation Cup even as two more athletes met the qualifying standard for the Asian championship.
In a final that stayed true to the mediocre standards witnessed at these championships, Harshith cleared 2.13 metres for the top spot. Suprith Raj claimed silver at 2.09 after tying with Army’s C Sreenish, making it a Karnataka one-two in the high jump pit.
The hosts, who also picked up silver medals through Joyline Lobo in women’s triple jump and P Balakrishna in men’s pole vault, are on top of the points table with 84.5 points, with a day left in the championships.
Unimaginative scheduling meant just two track finals were on the card on the penultimate day and there were hardly any performance of note. At the high jump pit, Harshith was hardly troubled as he started from 2.00 metres and went up to 2.13, clearing all but one height in his first attempt. But 2.16 proved too tough a challenge.
“I wanted to do my personal best but it is tough juggling studies and training,” said Harsith, a third-year civil engineering student of East-West Institute of Technology in Bengaluru. He also had problems with his shorts during warm-up. “I couldn’t do my warm-up properly and my lower body felt stiff,” added Harshith, who has a personal best of 2.17 metres.
Jaiveer Singh (8:48.56) edged out his Army team-mate Naveen Kumar (8:49.38) to win the 3000M steeplechase, with both of them going under the qualifying norm of 8:49.95. In the absence of Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh, Haryana’s Preeti Lamba won the women’s 3000M steeplechase in 10:44.86. Preeti had won the bronze in the 5000M on the first day.
There were no surprises in the women’s triple jump where Sheena N V sealed the top spot with a 12.92M leap, well below her National Games effort of 13.26 metres. Joyline, who started with a 12.10M effort, led briefly with a 12.62 in the next round but fouled all her subsequent four jumps to settle for silver. The women’s 400M reached the final stage with favourite M R Poovamma, 800M champion Tintu Luka and Jisna Mathew all moving into the final. Priyanka Panwar and Jauna Murmu were notable absentees after failing to make it here.
Tamil Nadu’s Jayaraj Preeth emerged winner in men’s pole vault, sailing past the bar at 4.90 metres. Balakrishna’s silver came at 4.80 metres while Tata Motors’ Krishna Prasath also cleared the same height for the bronze medal.
Niraj Kumar of Indian Navy and Ritu Dhiman of Uttar Pradesh were the winners in hammer throw but their efforts were nothing to shout home about.
Results: Men: 3000M steeplechase: Jaiveer Singh (Army) 8:48.56, 1; Naveen Kumar (Army) 8:49.38, 2; Sachin Bajirao P (Maharashtra) 8:48.13, 3. High jump: S Harshith (Karnataka) 2.13 metres, 1; Suprith Raj (Karnataka) 2.09 and Srineesh C (Army) 2:09, 2. Pole vault: Jayaraj Preeth (Tamil Nadu) 4.90 metres, 1; P Balakrishna (Karnataka) 4.80, 2; Krishna Prasath (Tata Motors) 4.80, 3. Hammer throw: Niraj Kumar (Indian Navy) 64.53 metres, 1; N Shankar (Tamil Nadu) 56.83, 2; Abhishek Yadav (Uttarakhand) 49.81, 3. 20Km walk: Maniram Patel (Gujarat) 1:29:51.00, 1; Kuldeep (Tata Motors) 1:31:04.00, 2; Ankit Kumar (Indian Navy) 1:31:13.00, 3.
Women: 3000M steeplechase: Preeti Lamba (Haryana) 10:44.86, 1; Nandini Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) 10:58.76, 2; S Padmavathy (Tamil Nadu) 11:30.50, 3. Triple jump: Sheena N V (Kerala) 12.92 metres, 1; Joyline Lobo (Karnataka) 12.62, 2; Shilpa Chacko (Kerala) 12.45, 3. Hammer throw: Ritu Dhiman (Uttar Pradesh) 58.30 metres, 1; Sarabjeet Singh (Punjab) 55.10, 2; Sarita Singh (Odisha) 54.97, 3.
Today’s finals: 6.00 am: 10,000M (men); 6.45 am: 10,000M (women); 3.30 pm: Discus throw (men); 3.30 pm: 110M hurdles; 3.45 pm: 100M hurdles; 4.00 pm: 400M (men); Triple jump (men); 4.10pm: 400M (women); 4.20 pm: 200M (men); 4.30 pm: 200M (women); 4.40: 800M (heptathlon); 4.50: 1500M (men); 5.00 pm: 1500M (women); 5.15 pm: 4x100M relay (men); 5.30pm: 4x100M relay (women); 5.45 pm: 4x400M relay (men); 6.00 pm: 4x400M relay (women).