The Hindu : The Kerala juggernaut continues to roll on

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 03, 2003

Sport

Sport - Athletics

The Kerala juggernaut continues to roll on

By Our Sports Reporter

Kerala's M. Ranjith leaping to a new meet record in the boys' under-19 triple jump event at the 48th National School Games athletic championship in Bangalore on Sunday.

BANGALORE Feb. 2. Defending champion Kerala is all set for an encore. On the penultimate day of the 48th National School Games athletic championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday, the Kerala under-19 boys and girls' relay teams along with M. Ranjith in the under-19 triple jump, scripted new meet records and helped the defending champion lead the table with 54 medals, inclusive of 20 golds.

Andhra Pradesh, currently second in the medals tally, had its moments to cheer as P. Trinath scripted a new meet record in the boys' under-17 1,500m event while West Bengal's Jhuma Khatun (girls, under-17, 1,500m), Haryana's Rajesh (boys, under-17, high-jump) and Gujarat's Yuvraj Singh (boys, under-19, 400m hurdles) also signed their names into the record sheets.

The Kerala juggernaut which began to roll ahead on Saturday, continued to make steady progress and Andhra placed second with a kitty of 23 medals, including 10 golds, cannot be expected to mount a challenge with just six events left for the concluding day on Monday.

The Kerala relay teams were on cruise mode and ran straight into the record books in the under-19 boys' and girls' 4 x 100m relay events. The quartet of Clement, Ahmed Kabir, Roshan and Layesh clocked 41.8s and erased Kerala's own earlier record of 42.9s set last year. Their deeds were soon emulated by the girls as Reena, T.K. Sheeba, A.K. Saranya and S. Jyothi clocked 48.2s to eclipse the earlier 48.7s benchmark set by Kerala in 2001.

M. Ranjith soon joined Kerala's record-busting bandwagon, clearing 15.20m in the under-19 triple jump and sailing clear past the earlier record of 14.95 set by Madhya Pradesh's R.V. Sushantha last year. The Plus Two student from MCVSHS, Kottayam, bettered his personal best of 14.60m etched recently in the Junior Nationals at Shimoga.

Earlier, Andhra's P. Trinath broke fresh ground in the under-17 1500m event. Trinath's 4:03.4s clipped the earlier record of 4:03.7s set by Rajasthan's Ummed Singh in 2001.

Trinath's effort found an immediate echo in the girls' under-17 1500m race as West Bengal's Jhuma Khatun etched a new meet record at 4:44.0s leaving State-mate K. Meena's earlier record of 4:50.6s in the archives.

Haryana's Rajesh also carved a sunny moment while clearing 1.93m in the under-17 high jump event to obliterate S.K. Nisarlam's (Assam) earlier record of 1.92m while Gujarat's Yuvraj Singh clocked 53.2s in the under-19 400m hurdles event and edged past Punjab's Sapra Jore's 54.18s set in 2001.

The championship concludes on Monday.

The results:

Boys:

Under-17: 1,500m: 1. P. Trinath (AP), 4:03.4s NMR, Old: 4:03.7, Ummed Singh (Rajasthan), 2001; 2. Satish Kumar (UP), 4:08.6; 3. Suresh Babu (Jharkhand), 4:09.1. High jump: 1. Rajesh (Haryana), 1.93m NMR, Old: 1.92, S.K. Nisarlam (Assam), 2001; 2. Malkit Singh (Punj), 1.84; 3. M.K. Vinesh (Ker), 1.81.

Under-19: 400m hurdles: 1. Yuvraj Singh (Guj), 53.2 NMR, Old: 54.18, Sapra Jore (Punj), 2001; 2. Akhilesh Kumar Singh (UP), 54.2; 3. Achinta Mahato (WB), 54.3. 1,500m: 1. Umed Singh (Guj), 4:04.6s; 2. Nirvair Singh (Punj), 4:06.2; 3. S.P. Bhim Rao (Kar), 4:07.5. 4 x 100m relay: 1. Kerala, 41.8s NMR, Old: 42.9, Kerala, 2002; 2. Karnataka, 42.7 BMR; 3. Maharashtra, 45.2. 5km walk: 1. Iqrar (UP), 23:53.7s; 2. Tince James (Ker), 23:53.8s; 3. Harminder Singh (Punj), 24:23.7. High jump: 1. Anil Kumar Chahal (UP), 1.95m; 2. S.K. Nizam Alam (Assam), 1.89; 3. Somveer (Haryana), 1.80. Triple jump: 1. M. Ranjith (Ker), 15.20m NMR, Old: 14.95, R.V. Sushantha (MP), 2002; 2. Ramesh (Haryana), 14.48; 3. Anish P. Krishnan (Ker), 14.22.

Girls:

Under-17: 1,500m: 1. Jhuma Khatun (WB), 4:44.0s NMR, Old: 4:50.6, K. Meena (WB), 1989; 2. S.R. Bindu (Ker), 4:44.6; 3. T.D. Sowmya (Kar), 4:49.8. Pole vault: 1. Saritha Kumari (Ker), 2.20m; 2. T.S. Malini (Ker), 2.10; 3. Gousiya (AP), 2.10.

Under-19: 400m hurdles: 1. Harsha Mathew (Ker), 1:04.4s; 2. T.R. Monisha (Ker), 1:06.6; 3. Akwinder Kaur (Punj), 1:07.3. 4 x 100m relay: 1. Kerala, 48.2 NMR, Old: 48.7, Kerala, 2001; 2. West Bengal, 49.0; 3. Karnataka, 50.6. 1,500m: 1. Iqbal Kaur (Punj), 4:46.5s; 2. Jyoti L. Kolekar (Karn), 4:46.7s; 3. Kavitha Raut (Mah), 4:49.8. 5km walk: 1. C.A. Manjusha (Ker), 27:39.4s; 2. Amandeep Kaur (Punj), 28:02.9; 3. Isha Rani (Punj), 28:10.5. Discus throw: 1. Indu Bala (Haryana), 38.73m; 2. Arpitha Rai (Kar), 36.61; 3. Nisha (Del), 35.88.

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