Railways athletes dominated the proceedings on the second day of the ninth Federation Cup athletics meet, winning the gold medals in the men's and women's 400 metres, at the GMC Balayogi stadium.in Hyderabad, on Tuesday.
Manoj Lal had little difficulty in winning in the men's event while S Geetha emerged victorious in the women's after a tough battle with Mukti Saha of Bengal.
Manoj Lal got off to a fine start and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the long sprint, which featured six athletes, to take the top place in 46.84 seconds, leaving a photo finish to decide the next two slots.
Satbir Singh and Anil Kumar Rohil, both of the Army, took the second and third places respectively.
Though it was an easy win for the Railway man, his timing today was much slower than his personal best of 46.01 seconds.
Geetha, a former junior Asian gold medallist, entered the big league, winning her race in a fascinating finish, relegating the Bengali girl to the second spot.
Though Saha took an early lead and was surging ahead, Geetha overtook her at the halfway stage to snatch the gold at the tape.
"I had put in all my effort to overtake Saha in the last 60 metres. I am happy with the result and the first gold at the senior level," the Andhra lass, who works for South Central Railway, said. The bronze medal in the event went to Sagardeep Kaur of Punjab Police.
K N Priya, an MBA student from Tamil Nadu, announced her arrival in the senior league in style by winning the yellow metal in the 100 metres hurdles.
She clocked 14.56 seconds for her first gold at a senior meet ahead of Deepti Vaidya of ONGC and Rajwinder Kaur of Punjab Police.
"Though I failed to get a good start and knocked a few hurdles, I could make it at the final mark and win my maiden gold at senior level," an elated Priya said after her event.
The men's 110 mtrs hurdles saw BSF Inspector Naunidh Singh setting the tracks on fire with lively pace, clearing the finish line at a personal best of 14.21 seconds, ahead of P Muthuswami (TN) and Krishnamohan (Army).
Naunidh had won a bronze medal in the first edition of the Asian Grand Prix held in Hyderabad in June and a gold in the Hyderabad National Games.
Archana Mondal of West Bengal cleared a distance of 11.50 metres in her third attempt to win the shot put gold. The silver and bronze medals went to Narinder Kaur and Manjit Kaur, both of Punjab Police.
In the morning session, the Army men walked their way to glory, winning gold and silver medals in the 20,000 metres walk.
Gurdev Singh clocked 1hr 31min 33.9 secs to take the gold followed by Sita Ram and Gurmeet Singh of Punjab Police.
Following are the results:
Men:
400m: Manoj Lal (Ker) 46.84 secs, Satbir Singh (Army) 47.60, Anil Kumar Rohil (Army) 47.60.
110m hurdles: Naunidh Singh (BSF) 14.21 secs, P Muthuswami (TN), Krishnamohan (Army) 14.54.
10,000m walk: Gurdev Singh (Army) 1hr 31 min 33.9 secs, Sita Ram (Army) 1::31:.50.6 secs, Gurmeet Singh (PP) 1::33:49.2 secs.
Women:
400m: S Geeta(AP) 53.73 secs, Mukti Saha 54.01, Sagardeep Kaur (PP) 54.60.
100m hurdles: K N Priya (TN) 14.56 secs, Deepti Vaidya (ONGC) 14.80, Rajwinder Kaur (PP) 15.15.
Shot Put: Archana Mondal (WB) 11.50 metres, Narinder Kaur (PP) 11.35, Manjit Kaur 10.94 mtrs.
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