Sushma stuns Tintu; Ashwini, Sahana win

Sushma Devi of Haryana ended Tintu Luka’s five-year unbeaten run on the domestic scene, defeating the national record holder in the women’s 800M final on the second day of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships here on Friday.

Sushma, who was also the last athlete to beat Tintu on the domestic scene, timed 2:02.05 even as the hot conditions took its toll on the P T Usha-ward, who clocked 2:02.85 for the silver medal.

The Athletics Federation of India’s had fixed the qualification criteria for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as 2:00.46. Another veteran runner Sini A Markose finished third clocking 2:03.47.

Karnataka’s reigning Asian Games champion Ashwini Akkunji was in fine form as she won the 400M hurdles in a new meet record of 57.43 seconds. Ashwini’s time erased Jauna Murmu’s four-year-old mark by three-hundredths of a second. 

Karnataka won another gold medal on the day, through Sahana Kumari in the women’s high jump. Sahana sailed over the bar at 1.89 metres.

Gold for Vigneshwar

After a shocking exit of Kumaravel Premkumar in the qualifying round, another Tamil Nadu jumper Vigneshwar claimed the long jump gold with an excellent leap of 7.90M. Kerala continued to remain on top of the points table with 60 points while both Tamil Nadu and Haryana were trailing in the second place with 46 points each.

Results: 

Men: 200M: Manikanta Raj (AP) 21.30 seconds, 1; Vikas Gulia (Delhi) 21.31, 2; Manikanda Arumugam (Tamil Nadu) 21.35, 3. 800M: Sajeesh Joseph (Kerala) 1:53.11, 1; Jinson Johnson (Kerala) 1:53.29, 2; Lalit Mathur (Delhi) 1:53.54, 3. 400M hurdles: Jithin Paul (Jharkand) 50.41 seconds, 1; Ramachandran (Maharashtra) 50.90, 2; Joseph G Abraham (Kerala) 51.10, 3. Shot put: Jagroop Singh (Punjab) 17.75 metres, 1; Naveen (Haryana) 17.2 5, 2, Sunil Kumar (Rajasthan) 16.98, 3. Long jump: Vigneshwar (Tamil Nadu) 7.90 metres, 1; Ankit Sharma (MP) 7.66, 2; Raja Oomen (Kerala) 7.54, 3. Javelin throw: Ravinder Singh (Punjab) 78.02 metres, 1; Devinder Singh (Punjab) 76.60, 2; Vipin Kasana (Haryana) 75.57, 3. Decathlon: Dayaram (Rajasthan) 7117 points, 1; Thangarasu (Tamil Nadu) 6426, 2; Vikas (Delhi) 6240, 3. Women: 200M: Dutee Chand (Odisha) 23.72, 1; Asha Roy (Bengal) 23,75, 2; Srabani Nanda (Odisha) 23.82, 3. 800M: Sushma Devi (Haryana) 2:02.05, 1; Tintu Luka (Kerala) 2:02.85, 2; Sini A Markose (Karnataka) 2:03.47, 3. 400M hurdles: Ashwini Akkunji (Karnataka) 57.43 (NMR. Old: 57.46, Jauna Murmu, 2010), 1; Elavarasi (Tamil Nadu) 58.99, 2; Anu R (Kerala) 59.99, 3. High jump: Sahana Kumari (Karnataka) 1.89 metres, 1; Mallika Mondal (Bengal) 1.73, 2; Sonu (Haryana) 1.60, 3.