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Athletics
Tharani in the limelight
By Our Special Correspondent
N. Tharani of Tamil Nadu on way to winning the under-20 girls' 800m, with a new meet record, in the junior National athletics meet in Chennai on Wednesday. Sinimol Paulose of Kerala, who finished second, is also seen.
CHENNAI, JAN. 9. Tamil Nadu could not have bargained for a more sparkling start to its campagin to regain the team championship than it had on the opening day of the inter-State junior athletics meet at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.
Champion middle distance runner, N. Tharani scooped up the first gold for the State with a record breaking effort in the 800 metres for girls under 20.
Shrugging off the challenge from Kerala star Sinimol Paulose, Tharani set the pace and maintained it till the finish line for a new time of 2:11.0, clipping 1.07 seconds off her previous best recorded in the last meet at Bangalore. She also had the honour of receiving the gold from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. O. Pannirselvam.
A sophomore in business administration in Jamal Mohammad College, Tiruchi, Tharani had won a bronze in the last National Open here clocking 2:8s. She was part of the Indian team for the invitation meet in Mauritius last year.
Sinimol Paulose, who broke Shiny Wilson's (nee Abraham) record in the recent inter-varsity meet at Kozhikode, also shattered the meet record of 2:12.07 clocking 2:11.9s.
In the under-18 section, Iqbal Kaur of Punjab broke the meet record with a new time of 2:13.41 against the record 2:14.86 held by Sinimol. Sherin Thomas, who finished second, came within the record bracket with a time of 2:13.58s.
Earlier, amidst a riot of colour, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. O. Panneerselvam, declared open the meet. The lavish opening ceremony featured a marchpast, torch relay, igniting of the flame on the brazier, oath-taking, release of balloons, pigeons and fireworks.
It was thoughtful of the Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletics Association to have invited former stars, highjumper Nalluswamy Annavi, pentathlete Balambal and triple jumper Balasubramaniam to carry the torch to the cauldron. Also honoured on the occasion were two stalwarts, Olympian Eric Prabhakar and Asian Games medallist J.B. Joseph.
K.N. Priya, who won a gold in the last Asian junior meet in Brunei, read the oath on behalf of the athletes.
The results:
Boys: Under-16: 800m: 1. Bangaraiah (AP) (2:00.16); 2. Vashish Kumar Rai (UP) (2:00.56); 3. Virendra Pratap (UP) (2:01.32).
Under-20: 1500m: 1. Mukesh Kumar Yadav (UP) (3:58.53); 2. Pritam Bind (Url) (3:59.15); 3. K.S. Ashok (Kar) (4:02.10).
Girls: Under-16: 800m: 1. A. Vijila (Ker) (2:20.06); 2. Anju Mathew (Ker) (2.21.07); 3. Geetanjali Jena (Ori) (2.21.28).
Under-18: 800m: 1. Iqbal Kaur (Pun) (2:13.41) (NMR); 2. Sherin Thomas (Ker) (2.13.58 NMR); 3. Joma Philip (Ker) (2:17.03).
Under-20: 800m: 1. N. Tharani (TN) (2:11.0) (NMR); 2. Sinimol Paulose (Kerala) (2:11.9) (NMR);3. Tejinder Kaur (Pun) (2:14.4).
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