Krishan Kumar, Harmilan Bains bag men's and women's 800m gold

Krishan Kumar of Haryana and Harmilan Bains of Punjab claimed the men's and women’s 800m gold medals respectively with comfortable wins on the third day of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships on Sunday.

Kumar grabbed lead at the bell and pulled away from the pack to add another gold to the Federation Cup title he won in March.

Uttarakhand's Anu Kumar tried to stay on Kumar's heels but the Haryana athlete sustained his pace and momentum to win in 1 minute 50.12 seconds. Asian Games gold medallist Manjit Singh (Haryana) took the bronze.

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Harmilan Bains enjoyed the vocal support of the handful of supporters at the NIS as she left M R Poovamma in her wake after the first lap and opened up a sizable lead despite being shadowed by Delhi pair of Shalu Chaudhary and Chanda.

The 22-year-old Harmilan won in 2:02.57 while Sri Lanka's Nimali Liyanaarachchi found the pace on the home stretch to push Shalu to bronze.

At the Punjabi University campus, Kerala triple jumpers Eldhose Paul, Karthik Unnikrishnan and Abdulla Aboobacker were locked in a high-intensity competition just like they had done during the Federation Cup here in March.

Paul emerged winner in the end with a best effort of 16.58m. Federation Cup gold medallist Unnikrishnan had to wait until his fifth try to get 16.54m and go past Abdulla Aboobacker for the second place.

Sonu Kumari, bronze medallist at the Federation Cup, won the women's heptathlon gold by amassing 5004 points in the gruelling seven-event two-day competition.

The Results (finals):

Men: 800m: 1. Krishan Kumar (Haryana) 1:50.15; 2. Anu Kumar (Uttarakhand) 1:51.05; 3. Manjit Singh (Haryana) 1:51.44.

5000m: 1. Kartik Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 14:42.76; 2. Adesh Yadav (Maharashtra) 14:45.45; 3. Arjun Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 15:01.21.

110m Hurdles: 1. Siddhant Thingalaya (Maharashtra) 14.11 seconds; 2. Mohammed Fais (Kerala) 14.34; 3. Amrinder Singh Aulakh (Punjab) 14.48.

Triple Jump: 1. Eldhose Paul (Kerala) 16.58m; 2. Karthik Unnikrishnan (Kerala) 16.54; 3. Abdulla Aboobacker (Kerala) 16.37.

Discus Throw: 1. Kirpal Singh (Punjab) 58.90m; 2. Harpreet Singh (Punjab) 57.73; 3. Gagandeep Singh (Punjab) 56.33.

Women: 800m: 1. Harmilan Bains (Punjab) 2:02.57; 2. Chanda (Delhi) 2:03.36; 3. Nimali Liyanaarachchi (Sri Lanka) 2:05.69.

High Jump: 1. Angel P Devasia (Kerala) 1.65m; 2. Giji Geroge Stephen (Tamil Nadu) 1.60m.

Pole Vault: 1. Baranica Elangoval (Tamil Nadu) 3.90m; 2. Babita Patel (Madhya Pradesh) 3.40; 3. Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) 3.30.

Heptathlon: 1. Sonu Kumari (Haryana) 5004 points; 2. Kajal (Haryana) 4740; 3. Madhu (Haryana) 4357