Kuldeep Kumar takes 1,500m gold

By Our Special Correspondent

SALEM, JAN. 19. It was a day of few record-less events, but more of pomp in the junior National athletics meet at the Mahatma Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday, the day it was launched under fading sunlight and semi-floodlight.

With all the electronic gadgets taking some time to relay the results, the day's events ended in near darkness, with the media men waiting anxiously to get the official results.

Last year's overall champion Kerala drew a blank in the gold medal tally. So also Tamil Nadu. But Karnataka sprang a surprise when the State's girl athlete Renuka Hegde ran a spirited race to clinch the under-20 1,500m gold, despite a sedate start.

She was not of Geeta Manral's class, the current record-holder at 4:27.4. Still she had to stave off the strong challenge from Kerala's Jessy Thomas, the early front-runner. Then she had to battle with Jaswinder Kaur, before pipping Jessy in the finishing line.

However, the evening programme started with a bit of surprise in the sense that the inter-state winner from Karnataka in the boys- 20 1,500m B.B. Manjunath, after being front-runner in two full rounds, ended up sixth. And the chaser Kuldeep Kumar of Uttar Pradesh took the gold at 3:59.29, well behind the meet mark of 3:50.25 set by Malkiat Singh in Jakarta in 1994.

Another Karnataka long-distance runner T. Mallappa made an impressive start in the under-18 1,500m, but his state-mate K.S. Ashok overtook him. It looked like one-two finish by Karnataka. But Rajasthan's Karam Veer ran a tactical race, overtaking the bunch in the home stretch to clinch the gold.

Kerala's great hope of taking the girls' under-18 gold in the 1,500m soared when Sinimol took the early lead and then maintained it for two rounds. Then she steadily lost her wind and Tajender Kaur ran a strong race to take the top honours. In fact, the finish was almost in a bunch and in that close finish, Sinimol edged out Manjula.

The results (1,500m finals):

Under-20: Boys: 1. Kuldeep Kumar (U.P. 3:59.2), 2. S.S. Sunder (TN), 3. Kashmir Singh (Punjab). Girls: 1. Renuka Hegde (Kar- 4:46.98), 2. Jessy Thomas (Ker), 3. Jaswinder Kaur (Punjab).

Under-18: Boys: 1. Karam Veer (Rajasthan 4:02.40), 2. T. Mallappa (Kar), 3. K.S. Ashok (Kar). Girls: 1. Tajender Kaur (Punjab 4:49.16), 2. Sunil Joon (Haryana), 3. Sinimol Paulose (Ker).

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Section  : Sport
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