First day first show: Indian relay teams on fire
June 26, 2021
The Indian relay teams lit the track on fire with record-shattering shows on the opening day of the 60th National Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), Patiala on Friday.
The records that came in the heats were pleasantly surprising and kept the relay squads’ Olympic qualification hopes alive.
The men’s 4x400m relay team comprising Mohammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, Noah Nirmal Tom obliterated the 15-year-old meet record (3 minutes 09.29 seconds) set by Kerala in 2006 by clocking 3:01.89s on Friday. The second placed Punjab (3:13.23s) and third placed Haryana (3:18.13s) were left far behind in the race.
Both foreign teams – Sri Lanka and Maldives – entered the final of women’s 4x100m relay event.
In the heats held in the evening, the Lankan girls even bettered the meet record and were second behind the Indian team – Archana Suseentran, Hima Das, Dhanalakshmi S and Dutee Chand – who went on to set a new meet record of 43.50 seconds. The old record of 45.69s stood in the name of Tamil Nadu which was set in 2019. The Lankans clocked 45.30s while Telangana (45.82s) were third in the second heats.
The six finals held in both field and track events turned out to be insipid.
In a tightly contested 100m hurdles, Kanimozhi C of Tamil Nadu, who finished the race in 13.66s, pipped Agasara Nandini of Telangana (13.70s) and WVL Sugandi of Sri Lanka (13.90s).
In the men’s 100m final, the national record holder Amiya Kumar Mallick of Odisha who posted 10.26 seconds in 2016 qualified for the final. The Olympic qualifying mark is set at a stiff 10.05 seconds.
Tejaswin to compete in India after three years
Eight finals are scheduled for the second day on Saturday including women’s long jump and men’s high jump in which Tejaswini Shankar will be competing in India for the first time after three years while another race to watch will be 400m hurdles in both men and women categories
The five-day meet which has been graded as a ‘B’ category event by the World Athletics is expected to help those athletes seeking Olympic qualification on the basis of their rankings. The Olympic qualification closes on June 29, the final day of the national event.
Seema first in Belarus Open
Discus thrower Seema Punia who competed in Belarus Open Championship on Friday seized the first position by hurling the discus to 58.62m but missed the Olympic qualifying mark of 63.50m.
Results
MEN 10000m: Vikram Bharatsinh Bangriya (MP, 30min 16.44s), Kartik Kumar (UP, 30:25.79s), Dinesh (Maharashtra, 30:50.74s); 100m (qualified for final): Shashank Balwantrao Shinde (Chhattisgarh), Aswin KP (Kerala), Gurindervir Singh (Punjab), Amiya Kumar Mallick (Odisha), Nalubothu Shanumaga Srinivas (Andhra Pradesh), Love Preet Singh (Punjab), Saurabh Rajesh Naitam (Maharashtra), Narinder Singh (Punjab); pole vault: Shekhar Kumar Pandey (UP, 4.80m), Dhirendra Kumar (UP, 4.50m), Parveen Kumar (Haryana, 4.50)
WOMEN 5000m: Parul Chaudhary (UP, 16:04.07s), Komal Chandrakant Jagadale (Mah, 16:26.89s), Ankita (Uttarakhand, 16:58.07); hammer throw: Manju Bala (Rajasthan, 61.08m), Sarita R Singh (UP, 56.13m), Surabhi Ganesh Vedpathak (Mah, 54.77m); triple jump: Renu (Har, 13.23m), K M Sonam (UP, 12.96m), Athira Surendran (12.55m), 100m hurdles: Kanimozhi C (TN, 13.66s), Agasara Nandini (Telangana, 13.70s), W V L Sugandi (Sri Lanka, 13.90s); 4x100m (qualified for final): Uttar Pradesh, Punjab , India, Kerala , Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana & Maldives
