Golden Manu rewrites mark

Bengaluru: DP Manu won gold in the men’s javelin throw final with a new meet record, but failed to eclipse the 85m Olympics qualification mark as the 62nd National Open Athletics Championships concluded at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday.

Railways clinched the overall title with 220 points as Services won the men’s team championship with 175 points.

23-year-old Manu, representing Services, began with a mighty first throw of 82.06m, breaching his previous meet record of 81.23m set last year at the same venue, and was the only one to cross the 80m mark among the field of 12 finalists.

Rajasthan’s Yashveer Singh took silver with a 77.72m throw, and Odisha’s Vikrant Malik bagged bronze.

“I came with the intention of qualifying for the Olympics by crossing 85m. I had maintained my fitness well, and I am slightly upset that was unable to do so. But 82 (metres) is a good throw and I am happy with gold and the meet record for today,” Manu told DH.

“I tried to throw more distance progressively, but there were some technical faults and maybe I tried too hard and missed my rhythm,” said Manu, who posted two foul throws in his six attempts. “My target is to qualify for the Olympics and I will try my luck in the National Games. Both Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena are fighters, and are constantly crossing 85 metres. Such distances guarantee medals in any event,” Manu added. 

“If your technique is good, you can make vast improvements within a year. Take Kishore’s example. Manu has been narrowly behind the 85m mark, but with some slight improvements in technique and strength development, he will get there,” said Kashinath Naik, Manu’s coach.

“He had it in him to qualify today, but we will continue training. We want to secure automatic qualification and not rely on the rankings. The aim is to reach 90 metres,” Naik added.

Tamil Nadu’s 4x100m relay men’s broke the meet record, clocking 39.42 en route to clinching gold, surpassing the previous best of 39.75 seconds set last year by Railways.

The Railways quartet later eclipsed the meet record in the corresponding women’s event while winning the gold with a time of 44.87 seconds, which was better than the previous meet record of 44.98 seconds.

ONGC’s Kavinash narrowly beat Karnataka’s Theerthesh Shetty to gold in the men’s 400m event. Andhra Pradesh’s Dandi Sri comfortably clinched gold in the women’s 400m run.

Munita Prajapati was first across the finish line in the women’s 20km race walk, finishing ahead of Karnataka’s Vandana, who pocketed an impressive silver.

Theerthesh Shetty of Karnataka reacts after winning silver in the 62nd National Open Athletics Championship at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Results (Finals only): Men: 400m: Kavinash (ONGC, 46.05s) 1; Theerthesh Shetty (Karnataka, 46.15s) 2; Akshay Nain (SSCB, 46.40m) 3. 1500m: Abhishek Thakur (SSCB, 3:42.41) 1; Shashi Singh (Bihar, 3:42.68) 2; Arjun Waskale (ONGC, 3:43.40) 3. 20km race walk: Bilin George Anto (Kerala, 1:25:02.50) 1; Servin (SSCB, 1:25:12.22) 2; Dhananjay Yadav (SSCB, 1:25:14.25) 3. 4x100m relay: Tamil Nadu (39.42s) 1; Odisha (39.74s) 2; SSCB (39.86s) 3; Javelin throw: DP Manu (SSCB, 82.06m) 1; Yashvir Singh (Rajasthan, 77.72m) 2; Vikrant Malik (Odisha, 77.65m) 3.

Women: 400m: Dandi Sri (Andhra Pradesh, 53,26s) 1; Simarjeet Kaur (Punjab, 53.77s) 2; Kavita (Police sports control, 53.77s) 3. 1500m: Pooja (Railways, 4:21.80) 1; Lili Das (Railways, 4:23.23) 2; Sneha Malik (Haryana, 4:23.75) 3. 20km race walk: Munita Prajapati (Railways, 1:38:21.68) 1; Vandana (Karnataka, 1:40:19.98) 2; Pooja Kumawat (Rajasthan, 1:41:12.36) 3. 4x100m relay: Railways (44.87s) 1; Tamil Nadu (45.68s) 2; Punjab (46.25s) 3.

Overall Championship winners: Railways; Men: Services; Women: Railways.

Best athletes: Men: Manu DP; Women: Yamuna Ladkat.