Annu Rani sets national mark
Kerala retain overall championship at athletics meet in city.
Hyderabad: Annu Rani, the Uttar Pradesh javelin-thrower, improved her own national record with a 59.87m throw while Kerala took the overall championship with 164 points as 56th National inter-state Senior Athletics Championships concluded here on Saturday. Annu, the Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist, bettered her previous meet mark with her first round 59.06m at G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium.
However her big throw of the day (59.87m) came in the fourth round that erased her two-year old Incheon performance of 59.53m. Team Kerala took the overall championship with 164 points with neighbouring Tamil Nadu placed runners-up in a close 150 points. TN finished second in women’s team championship (92 pts) while Haryana did so in men’s with 62 points, just 6 points fewer than Kerala men (68). Kerala also had another reason to delight as 400m hurdler Jithin Paul was the best male athlete.
The results:
Men 1000m: 1. Lakshmanan (Tn, 29:38.49), 2. Khetaram (Raj, 29:57.54), 3. Gopi T. (Uttarakhand, 30:37.69).
Women 5000m: 1. L. Surya (Tn, 15:59.6), 2. Swati Gadhave (Mah, 16:08.3), 3. Sanjivani Jadhav (Mah, 16:47.8).
Men Javelin: 1. Amit Kumar (Ap, 70.14m), 2. Ravinder Singh (Pun, 78.11m), 3. Vipin Kasana (Up, 77.94m).
Women’s High Jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Kar, 1.79m), 2. Angel P. Devasai (Ker, 1.73m), 3. Vinotha (Tn, 1.60m).
Women Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Up, 59.87m — New Meet Record), 2. Suman Devi (Up, 55.88m), 3. Kumari Sarmila (Har, 53.80m).
Women 200m: 1. Santini V.S. (Guj, 23.88), 2. Reena George (Kar, 24.25), 3. Archana (Tn, 24.74).
Men 200m: 1. Dharmbir (Har, 20.90), 2. Sanjeet (Har, 21.04), 3. Manikanda Arun (Tn, 21.69).
Women 1500m: 1. Gomathi (Tn, 4:22.42), 2. Chitra Pu (Ker, 4:24.47), 3. Sugandha Kumari (Wb, 4:25.54).
Men 1500m: 1. Siddhant Adhika (Assam, 3:54.64), 2. Sandeep (Har, 3:54.94), 3. Rahul (Del, 3:56.01).
Men 4x400m Relay: 1. India Team ‘A’ 3:54.64, 2. India Team ‘B’ 3:54.94, 2. India Team ‘C’ 3:56.01.
Women 4x400m Relay: 1. India Team ‘A’ 3:29.04, 2. India Team ‘B’ 3:32.45, 3. India Team ‘C’ 3:34.94.