Kerala emerge overall champs; Asish, Rashmi best athletes

PANAJI: Kerala athletes had plenty to rejoice at the end of the 12th Youth National Athletic Championship as they defended their title successfully at the Bambolim Athletic Stadium on Saturday. With 156 points in their kitty, they comprehensively beat Haryana (122.5pts) to the overall team championship.
Three meet records were bettered on the concluding day. Delhi lad Abhishek Drall, a leading javelin thrower from India, improved his previous mark by five metres throwing a distance of 75.26.
Kerala’s Sayana PO erased statemate Geeta Roby’s meet mark of 1.03.43 in the 400m girls hurdles with a time of 1:02.58.
Sonu Kumar of Rajasthan eclipsed Maharashtra lad Dhiraj Mishra’s seven-year-old record of 15.37m in the triple jump with a leap of 15.50m. He, earlier, clinched a gold in the long jump as well.
Bengal’s Chandan Bauri, who raced to a 400m gold earlier, completed a golden double with a 200m winner’s tag.
The 17-year-old lad from Tarakeshwar dedicated his win to coach Rajbeer, who spotted him when he was studying in the IV standard. “He is everything to me: A friend, a coach, a guardian. Without him I wouldn’t be here today,” said Bauri, who also qualified for the Asian Youth Championship.
Kerala girl Jisna Mathew also joined Bauri in the feat of pocketing the gold in both 200m and 400m.
Hosts Goa finally had something to cheer about when Shardha Sainuche clinched the bronze medal in 2000m steeplechase. Shot putter Steffi Cardozo and heptathlete Minaxi Karapurkar were the only two other Goans to have won medals in the youth nationals.
Beant Singh from Haryana had a splendid start in the boys 800m with a first-lap time of 54 seconds. But in the second, just when everyone was expecting him to set a new national record, he looked back and lost momentum. However, he was fast enough to lay his hands on the gold with a time of 1.53.48.
Ashish Jakhar (hammer throw) of Haryana and Rashmi Sheregar (100m) of Maharashtra were adjudged the best athletes.
Results: Boys:
200m: 1. Chandan Bauri (West Bengal) 21.99 secs, 2. Chirag (Haryana) 22.11s, 3. Manish (Karnataka) 22.21s.
800m: 1. Beant Singh (Haryana) 1:53.48, 2. Shah Faishal (Uttar Pradesh) 1:54.88, 3. Pawan Kumar (Uttarakhand) 1:56.41.
400m Hurdles: 1. Santhosh Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 53.37 secs, 2. A Rashid (Kerala) 53.79s, 3. Muhammed Anas (Kerala) 54.10s.
2000m Steeplechase: 1. Pinchu Kumar (Uttarakhand) 6:09.93, 2. Naveen Malik (Haryana) 6:09.93, 3. Sohan Singh (Uttarakhand) 6:09.99.
Triple Jump: 1. Sonu Kumar (Rajasthan) 15.50 mtrs NMR (Old- 15.37m Dhiraj Mishra, Maharashtra, 2008), 2. Boby Sabu (Kerala) 14.58m, 3. Harpreet Singh (Punjab) 14.20m.
Javelin Throw: 1. Abhishek Drall (Delhi) 75.26 mtrs NMR (Old- 70.02m Naveen Kumar, Haryana, 2011), 2. Mohd. Hadish (Uttar Pradesh) 73.47m, 3. Rajesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 66.12m.
10000m Walk: 1. Eknath Shambhaji (Delhi) 46:16.39, 2. Naveen (Haryana) 47:09.81, 3. Sumit Mandhan (Haryana) 49:01.82.
Medley Relay: 1. Haryana 1:58.59, 2. Kerala 2:00.34, 3. Delhi 2:00.82.
Team championship: 1. Haryana 103.5 points, 2. Uttar Pradesh 68 pts.
Best Athlete: Ashish Jakhar (Haryana)
Girls:
200m: 1. Jisna Mathew (Kerala) 25.09 secs, 2. Ramalakshmi (Tamil Nadu) 26.26s, 3. Komal Sharma (Uttar Pradesh) 26.36s.
800m: 1. C Babitha (Kerala) 2:13.48, 2. Abitha Mary Manuel (Kerala) 2:15.27, 3. Tanuja Singh (Bihar) 2:29.32.
400m Hurdles: 1. P O Sayana (Kerala) 1:02.58 NMR (Old- 1:03.43 Geeta Roby, Kerala, 2004), 2. Tiasha Samaddar (West Bengal) 1:03.07, 3. Ramalakshmi (Tamil Nadu) 1:03.65.
2000m Steeplechase: 1. Khushbu Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) 7:44.99, 2. Varsha Nagar (Uttar Pradesh) 8:18.20, 3. Shardha Sainuche (Goa) 8:50.41.
Triple Jump: 1. Rugma Udhayan (Kerala) 12.34 mtrs, 2. S Priyadarshini (Tamil Nadu) 12.27m, 3. S Nandhini (Tamil Nadu) 12.17m.
Discus Throw: 1. Sonal Goyal (Delhi) 39.69 mtrs, 2. Seema (Haryana) 39.53m, 3. P S Nivedita (Karnataka) 37.95m.
Heptathlon: 1. Trisha Dhar (West Bengal) 3872 points, 2. Vanshika Sejwal (Delhi) 3790 pts, 3. Athira Mohanan (Kerala) 3745 pts.
Medley Relay: 1. Kerala 2:17.96, 2. Telangana 2:21.45, 3. West Bengal 2:22.81.
Team championship: 1. Kerala 106 points, 2. Tamil Nadu 52 pts.
Best Athlete: Rashmi Sheregar (Maharashtra)
Overall winners: Kerala (156 points), Runners-up: Haryana (122.5 pts)