Federation Cup: Sahana Kumari opens Karnataka's bullion file

MANGALURU: Olympian Sahana Kumari won the first gold medal for hosts Karnataka in the 19th Federation Cup National Athletics Championships but the top athlete was disappointed, despite her seventh title in the meet, with her below-par performance which she attributed to the absence of a foreign coach.
The 33-year-old climbed to the top of the podium clearing a height of 1.76m. Mallika Mondal of West Bengal settled for silver with a clearance of 1.73m while Kerala's Steny Michael finished third with 1.70m.
The hosts also won a silver medal through Shahejahani (women's javelin). In women's discus throw, Karnataka's Priyanka JS was second among two competitors. VS Surekha had none to compete against in women's pole vault and had a best performance of 3.90m in her trial vaults.
Pudukkottai family bag 5,000m double
G Lakshmanan and her 'cousin' L Suriya won the men's and women's 5,000m exploiting the cool early morning weather. While Suriya won with a modest time of 16 minutes, 55.90 seconds, Lakshmanan held off a late surge by teammate Gopi to finish in 13 minutes, 58.40 seconds. Both the Army athletes booked their berths for the Asian meet as they finished within the qualifying mark.