This story is from November 3, 2014

Jaisha, Kundan, Manpreet clinch gold at Nationals

In the absence of her 'Didi' Preeja Sreedharan, who decided to skip the event, OP Jaisha had no problem cruising to the gold in the 5000m event at the 54th National Open Athletics Championship.
Jaisha, Kundan, Manpreet clinch gold at Nationals
NEW DELHI: In the absence of her 'Didi' Preeja Sreedharan, who decided to skip the event, OP Jaisha had no problem cruising to the gold in the 5000m event at the 54th National Open Athletics Championship here on Sunday. The runner, representing Railways, won her event rather easily but with a far-from-impressive timing of 16:13.61, almost a minute slower than the national mark which was set by Preeja in 2010.
"Preeja didi's presence would have made the competition tougher. She keeps pushing us with her performance," said Jaisha, who finished a good six seconds ahead of silver medalist, Railways' R Surya, "I took it a bit lightly in the end. That reflected in the timing," Jaisha said.
The modest timing notwithstanding, Jaisha was in a celebratory mood. She was happy to have fulfilled her aim of winning a gold medal for her employers. But not far from her stood a downcast Kundan, who had won the pole vault gold with a meet record but could not achieve his target – of setting a new national record.
Kundan's 5.06m attempt was one centimetre better than the previous meet record. The national record stands at 5.13. "I had the single goal of setting a new national record here. But I failed to achieve it. I might have set a new meet record, but I am not happy," the athlete from Sonepat said. "I don't like it when people say our best is at par with women pole-vaulters at international level. I wanted to improve it," said the tall athlete, who jumped 16 cm higher than the silver winner Praveen Kumar of ONGC.
With some star athletes staying out as it was the seasonending event, some promising athletes made a mark. Railways' Manpreet Kaur won the gold in women's shot put. She threw the iron ball to a distance of 16.39m beat Navjeet Kaur of ONGC. "We have done better during practice. Our next target is Rio Olympics," said the two girls from Punjab. Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist and national record holder Manju Bala pulled out of women's hammer throw, leaving Gunjan Singh to claim the gold with an effort of 58.38m. The throwing events are being held ion the warm-up areas of the Nehru stadium.Authorities have not allowed these events to be held on the main stadium turf, fearing damage to the football pitch which is hosting
Indian Super League matches.
Results:
Men: 5000m: 1. Nitender Singh (SSCB, 14:16.28), 2. Kheta Ram (SSCB, 14:16.67), 3. Man Singh (SSCB, 14:17.39); 20km walk: 1.Manish Singh Rawat (UK, 1:33:17), 2. Chandan Singh (SSCB, 1:34:36), 3. Gurmeet Singh (UTK, 1:35:01); Pole vault: 1. Kundan (SSCB, 5.06m), 2. Praveen Kumar (ONGC, 4.90m), 3. Balakrishna (RSPB, 4.85m)
Women: 5000m: 1. O. P.Jaisha (RSPB, 16:13.61), 2. L. Surya (RSPB, 16:19.99), 3. Kavita Raut (ONGC, 16:32.03); 20km walk: 1.Sapna (AIPSCB, 1:49:58), 2. Rani Yadav (RSPB, 1:52:29), 3. Rajni (AIPSCB, 1:52:48); Shot put: 1. Manpreet Kaur (RSPB, 16.39m), 2. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC, 15.22m), 3.Neha Singh (AIPSCB, 13.48m); Hammer throw: 1. Gunjan Singh (RSPB, 58.38m), 2. Rity Dhiman (UP, 56.26m), 3. Sarita P. Singh (RSPB, 55.65m).
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