The Hindu : Shakti Singh completes double

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002

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Sport - Athletics

Shakti Singh completes double
By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. Shakti Singh completed the shot put-discus double without sweat as another day of average fare was completed in the all-India Railway athletic championships at the Karnail Singh Stadium here on Tuesday.

Shakti took just one throw, reaching up to 53.70 metres, and then passed the rest, sure in the belief that none would be able to better that. No one did. Second-placed J. P. Tiwari managed just 47.92.

K.M. Beenamol showed encouraging form as she cruised through the straight in typical style in the 800 metres after having overhauled Sunita Kumari with about 120 metres to go. She clocked 2:09.15, not bad at all for an off-season effort or the season-opener, whatever one might call it.

Anand Menezes, always a better 200m runner than a short dasher, made up for his disappointment in the 100m on Monday, when he finished sixth, with the gold in the longer dash. The Central man clocked 21.90s, running away from the field right from the curve and finishing more than a metre ahead of Piyush Kumar of North. Arshad Hussain and Piyush had taken the first two places in the 100m on Monday.

The roles were reversed in the women's 200m as well when Saraswati Saha was given the nod in a photo-finish after she and Kavita Pandya, the 100m winner, clocked the same time of 24.32 secs. Saraswati had finished with just the bronze in the 100 metres.

Y. Bala Devi was credited with a meet record in the women's 10,000m walk. She clocked 52:19.5 as against the existing mark of 52:59.9 by Paramjit Kaur in 1999. Arumugam Pillai edged Omveer Singh in a keen contest in the men's high jump. Pillai cleared 2.08 metres while Omveer went up to 2.05 and then failed with all his three attempts at 2.08.

A fine anchor by K.G. Manojlal helped Southern take the men's short relay gold, while Eastern won the women's title. Sreekumar, Lijo David and Ramesh were the other members of the Southern team.

lThe results:

Men: 200m: 1. Anand Menezes (CR) 21.90s, 2. Piyush Kumar (NR) 22.05, 3. Arshad Hussain (SCR) 22.41; 1500m: 1. Subhash Chander (RCF) 3:56.16, 2. Vijay Pal (NR) 3:57.28, 3. Shyam Bihari Yadav (NR) 3:57.73; 5000m: 1. T. A. Shivananda (SCR) 14:46.6, 2. Dharam Veer (WR) 14:48.9, 3. B. S. Lone (WR) 14:52.2; 400m hurdles: K. P. Visakhamani (SR) 53.57s, 2. Sheesh Pal (NR) 54.14, 3. Ravindra Mahamuni (WR) 54.23; high jump: 1. Arumugam Pillai (SR) 2.08m, 2. Omveer Singh (WR) 2.05, 3. S. S. Subramanyam (SCR) 2.00; discus: 1. Shakti Singh (NR) 53.70m, 2. J. P. Tiwari (WR) 47.92, 3. Eswar Singh (WR) 46.81; decathlon: 1. Jagdish (SR) 6534 pts, 2. Brameshwar Nath (WR) 6436, 3. Mandeep Kumar (NR) 6305; 4x100m relay: 1. Southern 42.26s, 2. Central 42.28, 3. South Central 42.34.

Women: 200m: 1. Saraswati Saha (ER) 24.32s, 2. Kavita Pandya (WR) 24.32, 3. Poonam Tomar (WR) 24.39; 800m: 1. K. M. Beenamol (SR) 2:09.15, 2. Sunita Kumari (WR) 2:11.75, 3. Saritha Reddy (SCR) 2:14.64; 5000m: 1 Pampa Chanda (ER) 17:31.8, 2. Jisha Thomas (WR) 17:32.7, 3. Reena Thomas (ER) 17:39.2; 400m hurdles: 1. Smitha Mathew (WR) 1:00.46, 2. Sahebani Oram (SER) 1:00.56, 3. Renjini Raveendran (WR) 1:05.30; triple jump: 1. Manisha Dey (ER) 12.79m, 2. Kalpana Das (ER) 12.63, 3. Reena Thomas (SR) 12.45; discus: 1. Neelam J. Singh (RCF) 54.74m, 2. Sugan Yadav (NR) 49.90, 3. Manmeet Bains (WR) 46.90; 10,000m walk: 1. Y. Bala Devi (ER) 52:19.5 NMR, old 52:59.9), 2. Simi Mathew (SR) 54:53.3, 3. Nirmal (NR) 56:51.0; 4x100m relay: 1. Eastern 47.70, 2. Western 48.10, 3. Southern 48.30.

Southern Railways' K.M. Beenamol (left) about to overtake Sunita Kumari of Western Railways on way to winning the 800m gold medal in the all-India Railway athletic meet in New Delhi on Tuesday. Sunita won the silver.

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