The Hindu : Prasonjit Bhadra wins all-round title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 25, 2002

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Prasonjit Bhadra wins all-round title
By V.V. Subrahmanyam

Rajani Sharma of Punjab who claimed the allround championship in rhythmic event.

HYDERABAD, MARCH 24. Prasonjit Bhadra of Indian Railways won gold in the individual all-round men's section with 48.70 points while, Rajani Sharma of Punjab clinched honours in the rhythmic gymnastics of the 42nd senior National gymnastics championship being held at Fateh Maidan Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Prasonjit picked his maiden gold in the senior Nationals in his third appearance with impressive scores in floor exercises (8.30), pommel horse (7.90), roman rings (8.20), vaulting horse (8.10), parallel bars (8.1) and horizontal bar (7.90), clearly enjoying the stint on his favourite - roman rings.

His team-mate Praveen Sharma won his first all-round medal in the senior Nationals, settling for the silver with 48.20 points saying that his two missed chances on the pommel horse separated him from the winner.

Incidentally, the 26-year-old Sharma had won the individual gold in the 1997 Senior Nationals in parallel bar and silver (floor exercises) and pommel horse (bronze) in the 1996 edition.

Mahendra Singh of Uttar Pradesh brought some consolation for his camp, depleted by the pullout of the cream of Indian gymnasts, when he picked the bronze with 47.90 points.

What was clearly disappointing to the holiday crowd was the dismal performance of the host's main hopes - B.N. Shiva Kumar and A. Sarath Chandra. The two finished joint-fifth with a tally of 47.60 points each. Nineteen-year-old Rajani Sharma retained her individual all-round title in rhythmic gymnastics with 18.79 points followed by Sonia of Jammu & Kashmir (16.31) and Sakshi (J & K) 16.08 points. Coached by Arjuna Awardee Kalpana Debnath, Rajani showed wonderful sense of understanding of the sub- standard facilities for her discipline.

Sensing that it would be very difficult to be in complete control on the make-shift wrestling mats which formed the `floor' for most of the events, Rajani opted out of the ball event and preferred ribbon (5.30 points), rope (6.43 points) and hoop (6.60 points) in the three mandatory events. She drew applause for the deft manner in which she ensured that the hoop was not far away from the body and came up with a pleasing display in this event.

The faulty flooring in fact had its first victim in the morning session when Sampa Das had to leave the arena limping after she twisted her ankle during performing rope in the rhythmic gymnastics.

The results:

Men's all-round individual championship: 1. Prasonjit Bhadra (Rlys) 48.70 pts, 2. Praveen Sharma (Rlys) 48.20 pts, 3. Mahendra Singh (UP) 47.90 pts.

Individual scores (of the top six gymnasts, the order being vaulting horse, parallel bar, horizontal bar, floor exercises, pommel horse, roman rings):

1. Prasonjit Bhadra (8.10, 8.30, 7.90, 8.30, 7.90, 8.20); 2. Praveen Sharma (7.80, 8.50, 8.20, 8.30, 7.30, 8.10); 3. Mahendra Singh (7.90, 8.50, 8.00, 8.20, 6.90, 8.40); 4. R.K. Vijay Singh (7.90, 7.90, 7.70, 8.70, 7.50, 8.00); Joint fifth: B.N. Shiva Kumar & A. Sarath Chandra (7.80, 8.20, 7.60, 8.10, 7.80, 8.10 & 8.20, 7.80, 8.30, 8.70, 6.70, 7.90).

Rhythmic gymnastics: Women's all-round individual championship: 1. Rajani Sharma (Pjb) 18.79 pts, 2. Sonia (J & K) 16.31 pts, 3. Sakshi (J & K) 16.08 pts, 4. Jasmitha (Maha) 15.66 pts, 5. Pallavi (Maha) 15.34 pts, 6. Harleen (J & K) 15.26 pts).

Individual scores of top qualifiers in the above discipline:

Ribbon: 1. Sonia 6.30 pts, 2.Sakshi 5.30 pts, 3.Rajani 5.30 pts, 4.Pallavi 5.18 pts, 5. Harleen 4.90 pts, 6. Preethi Laha 4.53 pts, 7. Mala 4.40 pts, 8. Prijina (Ker) 3.93 pts.

Ball: 1. Pallavi 5.03, 2. Sonia 5.00, 3. Pallavi 5.25, 4. Harleen 4.93, 5. Suraksha 4.36, 6. Shika 4.21, Tashmita 4.20.

Rope: 1. Rajani Sharma 6.43, 2. Sonia 5.98, 3. Tasmitha 5.48, 4. Harleen 5.43, 5. Renu 5.11, 6. Surekha 4.98, 7. Amrutha 4.81, 8. Sampa Das 4.56.

Hoop: 1. Rajani Sharma 6.60, 2. Pallavi 5.16, 3. Jasmita 4.93, 4. Surekha 4.91, 5. Renu 4.91, 6. Preeti 4.66, 7. Mala 4.08.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport