Sahana scores a hat-trick

Relying on her considerable experience, high jump ace Sahana Kumari struck gold for Karnataka on the opening night of National Games athletics on Monday.

At the University Stadium, the tall Sahana overcame early jitters to sail past 1.80 metres for the top spot, completing a hat-trick of gold medal triumphs at the National Games.

The sultry conditions didn’t prevent two records from crashing on day one, with O P Jaisha racing to a commanding win in the women’s 5000M and G Lakshmanan doing a similar act in the men’s 5000 in front of a strong crowd that lapped up every minute of the action.

Sahana had started her tryst with the National Games way back in 2002, winning a silver behind Bobby Aloysius. Guwahati (2007) and Ranchi (2011) brought her gold medals and like in previous occasions, she was all alone at the finish.

Swapna Burman of Bengal and Mallika Mondal of Madhya Pradesh tied for the second spot, a good seven centimetres behind Sahana. But the Karnataka jumper almost came unstuck earlier in the competition, after fouling two of her attempts at 1.73 metres.

Shortening her run-up, Sahana then went past the barrier on her third try before clearing each of her next attempts also on her third try. She did attempt to break Bobby’s meet mark of 1.82 but knocked down the bar on all three occasions.

“It feels good to complete a hat-trick and considering this is the off-season, I am happy with the effort,” said Sahana. “I was a bit jittery when I knocked down the bar twice at 1.73 but then I decided to go for a half run-up and it worked,” said Sahana.

Jaisha, returning to the Kerala fold after four years, decimated the 5000M field, timing 15:31.37 to erase Kavita Raut’s record of 15:54.26 set at Ranchi. The winner of the Mumbai marathon last month, Jaisha was almost 80 metres ahead of the silver winner, Lalita Babar of Maharashtra, and a full one lap in front of national record holder Preeja Sreedharan, who ended fourth.

Jaisha hit the front early and stayed right there, putting in quick laps to widen the gap between herself and her rivals. Lalita was close initially but she couldn’t match Jaisha’s pace and faded away while Preeja cut a sorry figure, languishing way behind. Jaisha’s coach Nikolai Snesarev said the 31-year-old would be focusing on the marathon, where she set a national record in Mumbai, at the World Championships in August.

“Her time today is good for the last five kilometres of a marathon but for a track 5000, it is not good enough,”  he said.

Services runner Lakshmanan timed 13:50.05 to break Soji Mathew’s mark of 14:11.99 in the men’s 5000M race, also finishing well clear of his opponents.

Results:

Men: 5000M: G Lakshmanan (Services) 13:50.05 (NMR. Old: 14:11.99, Soji Mathew, 2011), 1; Mohd Younis (Maharashtra) 14:13.56, 2; Man Singh (Services) 14:15.14, 3.

Women: 5000M: O P Jaisha (Kerala) 15:31.37 (NMR. Old: 15:54.26, Kavita Raut, 2011), 1; Lalita Babar (Maharashtra) 15:46.73 (BMR), 2; Swati Gadhave (Maharashtra) 16:26.06, 3.
High jump: Sahana Kumari (Karnataka) 1.80 metres, 1; Swapna Burman (Bengal) 1.73, 2; Mallika Mondal (Madhya Pradesh) 1.73, 2.