One meet record fell by the wayside as Sanjay Ghosh of Madhya Pradesh and Delhi's Poonam Tomar emerged fastest man and woman respectively in the 43rd Senior National Inter-State Athletics championships, at the JRD Tata Sports complex, in Jamshedpur on Friday.
The 26-year old Sanjay Ghosh, now attached to the Army unit in Jabalpur, clocked 10.50 seconds to push reigning champion Amit Saha of West Bengal to second place. Saha finished in 10.54 seconds while Kerala's Anil Kumar took the bronze in 10.56 seconds.
In the women's 100 metres, Delhi lass Ponam Tomar retained the yellow metal with a 12 seconds finish, leaving Vinitha Tripathy of UP and Kerala's Greeshma K in second and third place respectively.
While Vinitha finished the race in 12.10 seconds, Greesham timed 12.15 seconds.
V S Surekha of Tamil Nadu not only retained the gold in the women's pole vault, but in the process also improved upon her meet record, clearing a height of 3.20 metres. Her previous mark of 3.18m was set in the last edition of the meet at Bangalore.
Deepa Chowdhury of Delhi and UP's Sahil Tewary covered three metres but the former was awarded the silver due to a better progressive score.
The much-awaited shot put duel between strong men Shakti Singh of Haryana and Punjab's Bahadur Singh ended in victory for the former, who threw the iron spheroid to a distance of 18.70 metres to win by a whisker.
It was revenge of sorts for Shakti, who had seen Bahadur bag the gold in the Busan Asiad last year, remaining content with the bronze.
"This was my maiden meet of the season. I was a bit rusty," a smiling Shakti said after his victory.
Bahadur Singh's throw of 18.69m was just a millimetre short of Shakti's.
Jaivir Singh of Rajasthan got the bronze, clearing 18.29 metres.
The meet, which had already lost much of its sheen due to the absence of a number of stars including Anju Bobby George, K M Beenamol and Bobby Aloysious, saw a further depleted field, with female sprinter Saraswati Saha failing to make it due to a heel injury, while Sunita Rani did not participate in the 1500m despite reaching the Steel City.
Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Tamil Nadu clinched two gold medals each on a day when honours were shared.
Gulab Chand of Andhra Pradesh picked the gold in the men's 1500 metres, winning in 3:48.89 seconds.
The southern state got their second gold in the men's 400m hurdles, with Varaprasad Reddy going over the sticks in 52.31 seconds.
Punjab's star runner Madhuri Singh made the most of Sunita Rani's absence to win the women's 1500m in 4:24.81 seconds.
Madhuri, who temporarily got the bronze by default in the Busan Asiad after Sunita Rani was under a cloud after testing positive, led from the start and maintained her position all through to ease to victory.
Sinimol Paulose of Kerala won the silver in 4:34.32 seconds, while S Shanthi of Tamil Nadu got the bronze with a 4:34.32 seconds finish.
West Bengal got their only gold in the women's 10,000 metres, courtesy L Aruna Devi, who gave a fine exhibition of endurance to complete the 25 laps in 36:04.54 seconds.
Pushpa Devi of Delhi and Maharashtra's Vaishali Chatre picked the silver and bronze respectively.
Results:
Men:
100m: 1. Sanjay Ghosh (MP)10.50 sec, 2. Amit Saha (WB) 10.54s, 3. Anil Kumar (Ker) 10.56s.
1500m: 1. Gulab Chand (AP) 3m:48.89s, 2. Kukdip Kumar (UP) 3:50.61, 2. Sunil Kumar (HAR) 3:53.50.
10,000m: 1. Aman Saini (HP) 31m:35.50s, 2. Puran Chand (PUN) 31:59.46, 3. Santosh Kumar Patel (UP) 32:52.04.
400m hurdles: 1. Vara Prasad Reddy (AP) 52.31s, 2. Joseph G Abraham (KER), 3. Abhishek Pandey (UP) 52.86.
Pole vault: 1. Praveen Kumar (HAR) 4.90m, 2. Samser Singh (HAR) 4.80, 3. Gajanan Upadhyay (UP) 4.80.
High jump: 1. Omveer Singh (RAJ) 2.12m, 2. Benetics Tarly (TN) 2.09, 3. Harishankar Roy (WB) 2.09.
Shot put: 1. Shakti Singh (HAR) 18.70m, 2. Bahadur Singh (PUN) 18.69, 3. Jaiveer Singh (RAJ) 18.29.
Women:
100m: 1. Poonam Tomar (DEL) 12secs, 2. Vinita Tripathy (UP) 12.10, 3. Greeshma K (KER) 12.15.
1500m: 1. Madhuri Singh (PUN) 4m:24.81s, 2. Sinimol Paulose (KER) 4:34.32, 3. S Santhi (TN) 4:35.70.
10,000m: 1. L Aruna Devi (WB) 36m:04.54s, 2. Pushpa Devi (DEL) 37:01.10, 3. Vaishali Chatre (MAH) 37:37.72.
Long Jump: 1. Pramila Aiyappa (KAR) 6.23m, 2. Jetty C Joseph (KER) 6.16, 3. Ruta Patkar (JHAR) 6.04.
400m hurdles: 1. S Roslin Arockia Mary (TN) 1m:00.29s, 2. Vijila K J (KER) 1:01.60, 3. V Vanishree (TN) 1:02.86.
Pole vault: 1. V S Sureka (TN) 3.20m, 2. Deepa Chowdhury (DEL) 3.00, 3. Sahil Tewari (UP) 3.00.
Hammer throw: 1. Hardip Kaur (PUN) 58.29m, 2. Ritu (DEL) 7.11, 3. Alka Pandey (UP) 51.93.
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