Karnataka’s B Chethan claimed the gold medal in men’s high jump on the penultimate day of the the Federation Cup athletics championships at NIS ground here on Saturday. Chethan cleared 2.18 meters to come on top of the pack that included national record holder Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi.
Tejaswin, coming from an injury, finished fifth with 2.10m, way below the 2.26 mark he had recorded last year in Coimbatore. Haryana’s Ajay Kumar and Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Kushare finished second and third.
Day three of the championship was rather quiet in terms of records. Olympian Sandeep Kumar, who prefers 50km walk, showed he is equally proficient in the 20km event on the domestic circuit. Sandeep, who has a personal best of 1:20:44, recorded 1:27:43.28 in hot conditions to win the gold.
“The coach (Alexander Artsybashev) told me to compete in the 20 km, so I said fine,” said the Armyman who had qualified for the Rio Games in both 20km and 50km events. He was followed by Sunil Rathee and Chandan Singh.
Solid show
In the women’s 3000M steeplechase, Sudha Singh, competing for the first time since returning with swine flue from the Rio Games, showed she was back in form. In the absence of friend and rival Lalita Babar, who had finished 10th in the Rio Olympics, Sudha clocked 10:03.01 even as an animated India’s middle and long distance coach Nikolai Snesarev hollered at the group to run faster.
The event was dominated by the runners from Uttar Pradesh with Parul Chaudhary and Chinta Yadav taking the remaining two places on the podium.
Sudha , who recorded her personal best timing of 9:26.55 in Shanghai last year, had been training for three months at Bengaluru and Dharamsala, before making herself available for the event. The qualifying mark for the World Championships stands at 9:42.
“The track at Patiala has always been very slow and we never get the required timing. Also there was not much competition. I feel in Asian Championships I would be able to qualify,” she said.
Haryana’s Naveen Kumar clinched the gold in men’s steeplechase with a timing of 8:50.85, beating Uttarakhand’s Durga Bahadur and State mate Jaiveer Singh.
Joyline bags silver
Karnataka’s Joyline Mural Lobo (12.99M) took the silver in the women’s triple jump, which was dominated by Kerala’s Sheena NV (13.31). West Bengal’s Bhairabi Roy finished third with 12.92M. Meanwhile, 400M national record holder Muhammad Anas did not take part in the semifinals while Nirmala Sheoran clocked 52.84 in one of the semifinals, finishing ahead of M R Poovamma, who also made it through.
Men: 3000M steeplechase: Naveen Kumar (Haryana) 8:50.85, 1; Durga Bahadur Budha (Uttarakhand) 8:52.81, 2; Jaiveer Singh(Haryana) 8:57.72.
High Jump: B Chethan (Karnataka) 2.18 metres, 1; Ajay Kumar (Haryana) 2.18, 2; Sarvesh Kushare (Maharashtra), Ritesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 2.13, 3.
Discus throw: Dharamraj Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 58.32 meters, 1; Kirpal Singh (Punjab) 55.43, 2; Baljinder Singh (Punjab) 54.23, 3.
20Km walk: Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) 1:27:43.28, 1; Sunil Rathee (Haryana) 1:27:49.39, 2; Chandan Singh (Uttarakhand) 1:28:28.14, 3.
Women: 3000M steeplechase: Sudha Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 10:03.01, 1; Parul Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 10:18.10, 2; Chinta Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 10:21.20, 3.
Pole vault: K M Sangeeta (Uttar Pradesh) 3.70 metres, 1; KC Dija (Kerala) 3.60, 2; Mariya Jaison (Kerala) 3.60, 3.
Triple jump: Sheena N V (Kerala) 13.31 metres, 1; Joyline Lobo (Karnataka) 12.99, 2; Bhairabi Roy (West Bengal) 12.92, 3.
