Sport - Athletics

Another double for Pinki

K. P. Mohan

Mahan completes a hat-trick; Anju takes second spot

NUMERO UNO: Pinky Paramanik celebrates after winning the women's 400m at the Asian Grand Prix on Friday. _ PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

PUNE: Pinki Paramanik repeated her Bangalore double while Mahan Singh completed a hat-trick of long jump titles as the Asian Grand Prix circuit wound up in a drizzle at the Baburao Sanas ground here on Friday.

Those who came and occupied the makeshift galleries on a sultry day seemed to have come to watch Anju George and despite the disappointment of seeing her finish second, the Kerala long jumper was mobbed in the end.

``This kind of enthusiasm (by the fans) keeps you going,'' she murmured even as children and elders jostled each other to get close to her for autographs in what was an apology of a media room.

No regrets

``The heel was paining right from the trial jump,'' Anju said. But she had no regrets. She was not concerned about the placing or the mark (6.46m on her first jump) and looked forward to the Asian Games as confidently as she had been doing ever since the season began. ``Two to three weeks of rest will see the injury heal,'' Anju said. But added quickly that she would be doing the rest of her work-outs regularly as she takes a break from competition till July.

``She can go far,'' said Anju of the lithe Kazakh Olga Rypakova who won with a jump of 6.61 metres to complete a sweep of the titles in the circuit.

Personal best

Paramanik received almost as much attention as Anju as she effortlessly won the 800 metres with a personal best of 2:03.23. The Indians took the rest of the medals, too, in this race with S. Shanthi claiming the silver and Sinimole Paulose the bronze. The key to the Indian sweep was the drop-out of Kyrgyzstan's Tatiana Borisova after she led up to about 600 metres.

``I was a little stiff after the 800,'' said Paramanik to explain the 52.92 she had for the 400 metres later. Once again Asian champion Manjeet Kaur came third, behind Olga Tereshkova of Kazakhstan.

Mahan Singh and Shiv Shankar Yadav made the men's long jump competition a keen one with the former catching up with his lesser-rated rival in the fifth round after Yadav had touched 7.70 in the third.

Other Indian gold medals of the day came from high jumper Hari Shankar Roy who cleared 2.18m and javelin thrower Anil Singh who registered 74.19m and Sunil Kumar Yadav who outkicked Chinese Chen Mingfu, who had won the two previous legs, over the last 150 metres to claim the 3000 metres.

The results:

Men: 100m:1. Wen Yongyi (Chn) 10.40, 2. Wachara Sondee (Tha) 10.49, 3. Anil Kumar (Ind) 10.50; 400m: 1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (Sri) 45.70, 2. Prasanna Sampath Amarasekara (Sri) 46.52, 3. Fawzi Al-Shammari (Kuw) 47.31; 800m: 1. Ehsan Mohajershojaei (Iri) 1:47.90, 2. Francis Sagiaraj (Ind) 1:49.59, 3. Dmitry Tarassenko (Kaz) 1:50.95; 3000m: 1. Sunil Kumar (Ind) 8:12.58, 2. Denis Bagrev (Kgz) 8:15.44, 3. Chen Mingfu (Chn) 8:15.54; 400m hurdles: 1. Meng Yan (Chn) 50.23, 2. Yevgeniy Melshenko (Kaz) 50.49, 3. Joseph Abraham (Ind) 51.08; High jump: 1. Hari

Shankar Roy (Ind) 2.18, 2. Chockchai Jirasukrujee (Tha) 2.15, 3. Jean Claude Rabath (Lib) 2.15; Long jump: 1. Mahan Singh (Ind) 7.73, 2. Shiv Shankar Yadav (Ind) 7.70, 3. Henry Dagmil (Phi) 7.61; Shot put: 1. Zhang Qi (Chn) 19.45, 2. Navpreet Singh (Ind) 19.29, 3. Ahmed Gholoum (Kuw) 18.27; Javelin: 1. Anil Singh (Ind) 74.19, 2. Om Narain (Ind) 64.71, 3. Rinat Tarzumanov (Uzb) 69.58.

Women: 200m: 1. Gozel Khubbieva (Uzb) 23.23, 2. Juthamas Taworncharoen (Tha) 24.18,

3. Zhu Jianhing (Chn) 24.31; 400m: 1. Pinki Paramanik (Ind) 52.92, 2. Olga Tershkova (Kaz) 53.39, 3. Manjeet Kaur (Ind) 54.77; 800m: 1. Pinki Paramanik (Ind) 2:03.23, 2. S. Shanthi (Ind) 2:04.44, 3. Sinimole Paulose (Ind) 2:05.28; 100m hurdles: 1. Feng Yun (Chn) 13.30, 2. Natalya Ivoninskaya (Kaz) 13.54, 3. Dedeh Erawati (Ina) 13.66; High jump: 1. Tatiana Efimenko (Kgz)

1.94, 2. Marina Aitova (Kaz) 1.92, 3. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.86; Long jump: 1. Olga Rypakova (Kaz) 6.61, 2. Anju Bobby George (Ind) 6.46, 3. Marestella Torres (Phi) 6.21; Shot put: 1. Zhang Guirong (Chn) 17.03, 2. Iolanta Ulyeva (Kaz) 17.03, 3. Jiang Ping (Chn) 16.59; Discus: 1. Song Aimin (Chn) 63.44, 2. Krishna Poonia (Ind) 51.55, 3. Seema Antil (Ind) 50.89.

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