Kerala emerges champion by a comfortable margin
September 20, 2017
The young athletes of the region once again showcased their skills in commendable fashion, leading to the creation of 20 meet records on the concluding day of the 29th South Zone junior athletics meet at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium here on Tuesday.
As fair weather followed a brief spell of rain early in the morning session, the athletes pressed hard even as they coped with the demanding situation, with the day featuring 71 finals.
Like in the 400m on Monday, the focus yet again remained on the sprint events, particularly the 200m which witnessed most of the winners come up with new meet timings.
In the girls’ under-18 section, Ancy Sojan (Kerala) won in 25.09s, while in the under-20 category, it was Tamil Nadu’s R. Vithya who won gold, with a 25.60s.
Vithya had won the 400m on the opening day, again with a new meet record to boot.
Karnataka’s V.A. Shashikanth clocked 21.85s to win the boys’ under-16 event before T.V. Akil (Kerala) and Ajith Kumar (Tamil Nadu) claimed the under-18 and under-20 golds respectively.
Another notable performer of the day was A.S. Sandra (Kerala) who went under the existing mark in the girls’ under-16 800m.
A. Jenci Susan (Tamil Nadu) also caught the eye as she heaved the shot put well past the old record.
D.R. Smitha (Karnataka) was hardly challenged in the u-18 (2,000m) steeple chase, winning in a record time of 7:48.94.
Gayathri Sivakumar (Kerala) found herself in the spotlight with a record 1.71m in the high-jump.
Among junior women, R. Nithya and P.O. Sayana (Kerala) set new records in the 100m and 400m hurdles, prior to the home team posting a new mark in the 4x400m relay.
Kerala’s V.K. Muhammed Lazan and Tamil Nadu’s K. Mohammed Asset won the boys’ under-16 100m hurdles and the high jump with record-breaking efforts.
In the under-18 group, Satywan (Telangana) set a shot put record while in the junior men’s category, it was Kerala’s Abhinandh Sundaresan and Sachin Binu who set new marks, in the 5,000m and 110m hurdles.
With a tally of 913 points, Kerala took the overall championship title, far ahead of Tamil Nadu (748) and Karnataka (566).
