12th South Asian Games: Poovamma, Sahana ease home

Indian athletes dominate day two; Ankit, Neeraj strike gold with meet marks

Leading Indian athletes won in a canter despite not going full blast as the hosts amassed a whopping 10 golds on the second day of the athletics competition at the 12th South Asian Games here on Wednesday.

MR Poovamma (women’s 400M), Mayookha Jhony (triple jump), Sahana Kumari (high jump) and Arokya Rajiv (men’s 400M) expectedly aced their respective events on a cold evening at the Indira Gandhi Stadium but Gopi T (10000M) and Ankit Sharma (long jump) shone the brightest, setting new meet records en route to their triumph.

Poovamma, a 400M bronze medallist at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014, was the overwhelming favourite in the one-lap race and the 25-year-old hardly had to sweat. The race only bore some artificial excitement as Sri Lanka’s RMCS Rasnayaka kept pace with the Indian after the first 100 metres.

The Indian though was uncatchable the moment she hit the penultimate bend. She entered the home straight with a huge lead, almost walking home in a timing of 54.1 seconds. The only problem in the race was the trigger gun connecting the photo finish failing, resulting in the organisers issuing a hand held time.

Sahana Kumari cleared 1.78 metres to claim the high jump gold while Mayookha Johny hardly faced any issue in the triple jump event, leaping 13.85 metres for the gold. Ankit set a new record in the men’s long jump, his effort of 7.89 metres erasing the 7.79 set by Mohammed Urfaq way back in 1989. Similarly, Gopi T too obliterated a long-standing record in the 10000M race, crossing the line in a timing of 29:10.53, beating the 29:30.23 set by Bahadur Prasad in 1993.

Young javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra also came up with a superb effort, his meet record of 82.23 metres equalling the national record set by Rajinder Singh at the National Games last year in Thiruvananthapuram.

DH News Service

Results: Men: 400M: Arokya Rajiv (Ind) 46.23 seconds, 1; Kunhi Mohammed (Ind) 46.73, 2; HM Dilip Ruwan (SL) 47.30, 3.

800M: Induing Herath (SL) 1:51.46, 1; Muhammad Ikram (Pak) 1:51.86, 2; Ajay Kumar Saroj (Ind) 1:52.04, 3.

10000M: Gopi T (Ind) 29:10.53 (NMR; Old: 29:30.23, Bahadur Prasad, 1993) 1; Suresh Kumar (Ind) 29:20.49, 2; DL Samrajeewa (SL) 30:22.54, 3.

110M hurdles: Surendhar J (Ind) 14.13, 1; Prem Kumar K (Ind) 14.13, 2; Mohsin Ali (Pak) 14.26, 3.

4x100M relay: Sri Lanka (39.96) 1; Pakistan (40.56) 2; India (41.09) 3.

Javelin throw: Neeraj Chopra (Ind) 82.23 metres (NMR; Old: 78.01, Jagadish Bishnoi, 1999) 1; RMSJ Ranasinghe (SL) 80.25, 2; Arshad Nadeem (Pak) 78.33, 3.
Long jump: Ankit Sharma (Ind) 7.89 (NMR; Old: 7.79, Mohammed Urfaq, 1989) 1; K Prem Kumar (Ind) 7.62, 2; Amila Jayasiri (SL) 7.46, 3.

Pole vault: MHI Sandaruwan (SL) 4.90 (NMR; Old: 4.81, Muhammed Ayub, 2006) 1; Sonu Saini (Ind) 4.80, 2; Rehan Anjum (Pak) 4.60, 3.

Discus throw: Arjun (Ind) 57.21, 1; Kripal Singh (Ind) 56.59, 2; KGUP Jayawardana (SL) 53.52, 3.

Women: 400M: MR Poovamma (Ind) 54.1, 1; RMCS Rasnayaka (SL) 54.4, 2; Omaya Udayangani (SL) 54.7, 3.

4x100M relay: Sri Lanka (45.50) 1; India (45.79) 2; Bangladesh (47.44) 3.
100M hurdles: Gayathry Govindharajan (Ind) 13.83, 1; Sajitha KV (Ind) 14.26, 2; RAIS Rajasinghe (SL) 14.37, 3.

High jump: Sahana Kumari (Ind) 1.78, 1; LGAT Vinodani (SL) 1.75, 2; Swapna Burman (Ind) 1.75, 3.

Triple jump: Mayookha Jhony (Ind) 13.85, 1; HD Vidusha Lakshani (SL) 13.18, 2; MA Prajusha (Ind) 12.95, 3.