Ashish Kumar sets new meet mark

By Our Sports Reporter

KANPUR, OCT. 2. On a day when the performances were restricted due to the soggy conditions following overnight rains, hammer thrower Ashish Kumar set a new meet record in the boys' under-18 category in the inter-zonal athletics championship here on Tuesday.

The heavy overnight rains messed up the hectic schedule at the IIT Campus here and the organisers had to wait for nearly four hours to start the events in the afternoon. But another spell of rain, only after three hours of action, led to a further disruption and the events had to be extended up to late in the evening. Still, the two shorter relays in the boys and the girls under-16 categories had to be postponed for the last day.

In fact, the only new meet record of the day was created at a different venue. The field events scheduled for Tuesday morning were shifted to the DAV College ground, which was marginally better than the main IIT Campus ground. All the three age-group hammer events were conducted at the DAV College.

Ashish, who trains at the Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium in Allahabad, hardly faced any challenge on his way to a 59.71- metre winning effort. He erased Varinder Singh's previous mark by 1.63 metres.

Though the ground was slightly better at the DAV college, the slippery conditions still made it tough for the athletes to put in their best.

Ashish, who also holds the National record in the under-16 category, had crossed 64-metre mark during practice. But with no proper foot-hold, he was not comfortable. ``Otherwise he is capable of reaching further distance,'' said Ashish's coach, Rustam Khan. Ashish was way ahead of the rest as second-placed Mohammad Naseem of East Zone finished with 51.77.

The Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) secretary, Mr. Lalit Bhanot, who reached here on Tuesday, clarified that it was not mandatory for all the junior athletes to participate in this meet.

In response to the junior team's chief coach, Mr. J. S. Saini's suggestion of making the participation of the junior athletes in all the zonal and National meets compulsory, Mr. Bhanot said, ``as long as an athlete performs in the last selection trial or the last meet (before an international competition), he or she is eligible for selection.''

The AAFI has imposed a one-year suspension on Karnataka's T. P. Vinod Kumar as he was found over-age on the basis of the medical tests carried out here. Vinod had competed in the boys under-18 high jump event on Monday.

The results: Junior men (under-20): 200m: 1. Ranjeet Kumar Rana (East) 22.52, 2. Ramneek Singh (North) 22.66; 3. Amish P. (West) 23.00; 1500m: 1. Ashok K. S. (South) 4:02.98, 2. Mukesh Kumar (North) 4:03.66, 3. Bhupinder Singh (West) 4:04.08; 110m hurdles: 1. Avinash A. (South) 15.36, 2. Ram Chand Yadav (North) 16.14, 3. K. M. Mishra (East) 16.87; long jump: 1. Shani A. R. (South) 7.11, 2. L. Dharmender (East) 6.72, 3. Mrinal Das (East) 6.68; discus: 1. Naresh Kumar (North) 50.75, 2. Akash Singh (West) 44.32, 3. Nand Lal Singh (East) 42.78; hammer: 1. Ashok Tiwari (North) 54.29, 2. Himanshu (North) 52.20, 3. Sunil Kumar (West) 49.89.

Boys: Under-18: 200m: 1. Surinder Singh (North) 22.42, 2. Mohit Sharma (North) 22.46, 3. Ibrat Ali (South) 22.86; 1500m: 1. Jai Prakash Patel (North) 4:11.99, 2. Surajan Xalxo (East) 4:12.94, 3. Doodh Nath (North) 4:13.40; 5000m: 1. Sunil Gaud (West) 15:22.24, 2. Manoj Kumar Verma (North) 15:35.01, 3. Brijesh Kumar (North) 16:04.80; 100m hurdles: 1. Surender Singh (North) 14.95, 2. Krishna Mohan (South) 15.10, 3. Surya Kumar (South) 15.17; long jump: 1. Jeetendra Singh (North) 6.74, 2. Adam Sinclair (South) 6.67, 3. Samresh Maity (East) 6.66; discus: 1. Sunil Kumar (East) 49.98, 2. Ankush Punia (North) 48.50, 3. Bijendra Singh (West) 45.12; hammer: 1. Ashish Kumar (North) 59.71 (NMR, old, Varinder Singh, 58.08, 1997), 2. Mohammad Naseem (East) 51.77, 3. Mukesh (North) 50.65.

Under-16: 100m hurdles: 1. Navesh Chandra (West) 13.85, 2. Sriniwas Gupta (West) 14.54, 3. M. Gannavel (South) 14.78; long jump: 1. Budhram Singh (East) 6.56, 2. Sikander Pandey (North) 6.41, 3. Sanjay Kumar Singh (East) 6.15; discus: 1. Prithvi Raj Singh (North) 52.00, 2. Dheer Sameer (East) 49.63, 3. N. Kalirasan (South) 48.83; hammer: 1. Shanawaz Khan (North) 57.67, 2. Sudhir Kumar Punir (West) 48.87, 3. Jainath Yadav (East) 46.78.

Under-14: Triathlon: 1. Deepak Bhoumik (East) 1896 pts, 2. Satender Singh (North) 1894; 3. Shanker Rao (South) 1854.

Junior women (under-20): 100m: 1. Chitra K. Soma (East) 12.32, 2. Sachita Ponnappa (South) 12.38, 3. Pratima Gaonkar (West) 12.74; 10,000m: 1. L. Chula Dhanu (East) 38:41.69, 2. Basanta Biswas (East) 39:49.01, 3. Manju (North) 40:39.24; 100m hurdles: 1. A. Kalyani (South) 15.06, 2. Lucy Deshmukh (East) 16.19, 3. Reena Roy (East) 17.90; high jump: 1. Parvati Vishwas (East) 1.50, 2. A. Pal (East) 1.45; triple jump: 1. Deepali Duri (East) 11.31, 2. Lucy Deshmukh (East) 11.19, 3. Ruchi Negi (North) 9.54; shot put: 1. Archan Kumari (East) 11.30, 2. Manjit Kaur (North) 10.16, 3. Champa Gogoi (East) 9.73.

Girls: Under-18: 100m: 1. Pavneet (North) 12.42, 2. Ranjeeta Roy (East) 12.73, 3. Mini S. (West) 13.04; 1500m: 1. Sujata Samanta (East) 4:55.22, 2. Asha Sandhu (East) 4:56.26, 3. Grishma (South) 5:09.04; 3000m: 1. S. T. Chanu (East) 10:52.91, 2. T. Sunolata Devi (East) 11:00.38; Jayshree Y. Patil (South) 11:53.45; 100 hurdles: 1. A. Amudha (South) 16.59, 2. Renu (North) 17.23, 3. Pawandeep (North) 17.44; high jump: 1. A. Amudha (South) 1.60, 2. Sushmita Roy (East) 1.50, 3. Swarupa (East) 1.45; triple jump: 1. A. Amudha (South) 10.90, 2. Renu (North) 10.79, 3. Sonali (East) 10.77; shot put: 1. Pooja M. Jose (South) 11.46, 2. Monica Joon (North) 10.69, 3. Hardeep (North) 10.51.

Under-16: 100m: 1. T. Bindu (South) 13.12, 2. Sabina Khatoon (East) 13.17, 3. Radhika Ganorkar (West) 13.46; 2000m: 1. Sandhya Basappa (South) 7:06.03, 2. Ashwani (South) 7:06.39, 3. Roopshikha Das (East) 7:19.87; 110m hurdles: 1. Monolisa Bora (East) 16.43, 2. K. Revathi (South) 17.47, 3. Tuli Deshmukh (East) 17.61; shot put: 1. Indu Bala (North) 9.71, 2. Amiradha Priya (South) 9.50, 3. Shimsha A. N. (South) 8.93.

Under-14: Triathlon: 1. Safia Khatun (East) 1228, 2. Birangang Thakur (East) 1212, 3. Bhavya U. (South) 1078.

Ashish Kumar of North Zone, who set a new meet mark in the boys' under-18 hammer throw event in the inter-zonal athletics championship in Kanpur on Tuesday

A. Amudha of South Zone (581) winning the girls' under-18 100m hurdles. Renu (506) of North Zone bagged the silver.

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