Raveena sets National mark; TN is champion

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 4. The Tamil Nadu contingent was cock-a-hoop, with championship triumphs in the boys' and girls' sections of the inaugural junior Federation Cup athletics championship, sponsored by MSIL and Karnataka Soaps & Detergents Ltd, at the Sree Kanteerava stadium here today. The final day witnessed the lone National Record of the meet being set by Haryana walker Raveena Antil in the girls' 10-km walk.

The TN boys had it tight. Trailing by two points against Uttar Pradesh's 64 points going into the relay, Tamil Nadu fielded a team which UP could not. A third place finish behind Karnataka and Delhi sufficed to pip UP to the title, with TN tallying 66 points. If UP athletes excelled, despite a cloud of uncertainty in age-proof, in the throws and long distance, TN was well served by the sprinters and jumpers. The TN girls (114 points), however, had no trouble, winning the championship by a good 29 points over second placed Karnataka.

Double gold winners West Bengal's Mukti Saha (110m hurdles and 200m) and Karnataka's Laxmi G. Narasinganavar (5000m and 10,000m) were adjudged `best athletes' of the meet.

Nineteen-year-old Laxmi Narasinganavar impressed in the long distance. Having pocketed the 10,000m yesterday, the Chandagi Sports School (Belgaum) product was simply unstoppable in the 5000m, breasting the tape at least 200m ahead of Preeja Sreedharan of Kerala, with a time of 17:57.83 seconds. Laxmi, seeking employment either with the Railways or Karnataka Police, had a previous best of 17:52 seconds.

Mukti staved off a fast finishing Manjit Kaur of Punjab to win the 200m gold. Ahead at the curve, Mukti kept accelerating, but Manjit the 400m gold winner, with a fine burst in the straight almost caught up at the tape to clock 24.14 seconds against Mukti's 24.07 seconds.

The day witnessed the lone national record of the meet, which lacked in both class and excitement. Raveena Antil of Haryana walked herself into the record books winning the 10-km walk in 52:43.9 seconds eclipsing Y. Bala Devi's two-year-old mark set at Lucknow, at 54:58.7 seconds. P. Shankar of Andhra Pradesh tripped at the final hurdle in the boys' 400m hurdles. Positioned comfortably behind the winner, P.S. Pahi of Jharkand, Shankar tripped and although he recovered to come in third, Punjab's Harminder Singh overtook the AP boy to the post. The boys 4x400m relay which spilled over from yesterday's programme, was not held as just two teams entered. Also, with three entries the organisers cancelled the 4x400m relay for girls. But TN team officials voiced their protest stating that with three entries the event could be conducted. The organisers and officials obliged but TN despite a valiant bid by Shalini could not catch up with Andhra Pradesh.

lThe results: Boys: 200m: 1. Sajjan Kumar (Del) 22.44s; 2. B. Rajesh Pran Mathias (TN) 22.61s; 3. Surinder Singh (Har) 22.62s. 800m: 1. Mallappa (Kar) 1:55.23s; 2. Ummed Singh (Guj) 1:55.51s; 3. P. Sunny Sharma (AP) 1:55.53s. 400m hurdles: 1. P.S. Pahi (Jhar) 52.69s; 2. Harminder Singh (Pun) 54.26s; 3. P. Shankar (AP) 54.94s. 5000m: 1. Kuldeep Kumar (UP) 14:55.93s; 2. Sunil Goud (MP) 15:08.74s; 3. Mukesh Kumar (UP) 15:38.50s. 10- km walk: 1. Vijay Gehlot (UP) 44:06.5s; 2. Gurmit SIngh (Pun) 44:32.8s; 3. K. Sriram (AP) 44:58.5s. High jump: 1. Omveer Singh (Raj) 2.10m; 2. A. Arun Kumar (TN) 1.93m; 3. Anand Raj (TN) 1.90m. Triple jump: 1. Laxminarayan (TN) 15.16m; 2. Hargobind Singh (Pun) 14.74m; 3. Sushant Bangera (Mah) 14.62m. Discus: 1. Jaiveer Singh (Raj) 47.42m; 2. Amritpal Singh (Pun) 47.05m; 3. Naresh Kumar (Raj) 45.46m. Hammer: 1. Rakesh Kumar Yadav (UP) 62.19m; 2. Birkiran Singh (Chan) 62.17m; 3. Harpal Singh (Pun) 61.46m. 4x100m: 1. Karnataka 42.82s; 2. Delhi 43.24s; 3. Tamil Nadu 43.34s.

Girls: 200m: 1. Mukti Saha (WB) 24.07s; 2. Manjit Kaur (Pun) 24.14s; 3. K.N. Priya (TN) 25.24s. 800m: 1. N. Dharini (TN) 2:17.44s; 2. Swetha (Kar) 2:18.35s; 3. Rashmi (Ker) 2:19.13s. 5000m: 1. Laxmi Narasinganavar (Kar) 17:57.83s; 2. Preeja Sreedharan (Ker) 18:22.23s; 3. L. Manjula (Kar) 18:44.36s. 10-km walk: 1. Raveena Antil (Har) 52:43.9s (NR); 2. S. Pavani (AP) 55:45.6s; 3. L. Tombi Devi (Mani) 56:58.2s. 400m hurdles: 1. A. Kalyani (AP) 1:02.10s; 2. Daya Kodchikar (Kar) 1:06.52s; 3. Rupali Damle (Mah) 1:06.82s. High jump: 1. M. Sangeeta (TN) 1.74m; 2. A. Amudha (TN) 1.60m; 3. Lucy Deshmukh (WB) 1.55m. Triple jump: 1. Noosheen Rajendran (TN) 12.50m; 2. V.S. Libiya (Ker) 12.30m; 3. K.N. Priya (TN) 11.86m. Pole vault: 1. B.S. Preethi (Kar) 2.50m; 2. Surekha Suresh (TN) 2.30m; 3. Deepa Choudhary (Del) 2.20m. Hammer throw: 1. Archana Bara (Jhar) 49.55m; 2. Y. Brojeshwari Devi (Assam) 48.11m; 3. Supinder Pal Kaur (Pun) 43.53m. Javelin: 1. Suman Devi (UP) 50.33m; 2. Kalyani Chetia (Assam) 37.52m; 3. R. Jayanthi (TN) 35.37m. Discus: 1. R. Jayanthi (TN) 35.90m; 2. Bhavana Goud (MP) 32.98m; 3. Pooja Marita Jose (TN) 31.20m. 4x100m: 1. Karnataka 48.38s; 2. TN 49.32s; 3. AP 49.74s. 4x400m: 1. AP 4:02.33s; 2. TN 4:03.14s; 3. Karnataka 4:10.26s.

Team championships: Boys: 1. Tamil Nadu 66 pts, 2. UP 64 pts. Girls: Tamil Nadu 114 pts, 2. Karnataka 85 pts.

Best athletes: Mukti Saha (WB) and Laxmi Narasinganavar (Kar).

The Tamil Nadu boys and girls who emerged champions

Haryana's Raveena Antil, who set a National record in the 10-km walk for girls in the inaugural junior Federation Cup athletics championship which concluded in Bangalore on Wednesday.

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