Date:02/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/02/stories/2007060206432200.htm

Sport - Athletics

Poovamma picks up 400m gold

Special Correspondent

MIGHTY HEAVE: Manpreet Kaur won the shot put. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: M.R. Poovamma, the long-limbed Dakshin Kanara girl, ran a beautifully judged one-lap event to stop the clock at 54.7 seconds at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Friday afternoon.

But Poovamma, Karnataka's torch-bearer in the ongoing Unitech fourth Youth National Athletics Championship, will be denied acknowledgement of a record on the 400m event because neither the KAA nor the AFI was able to procure the electronic gadgets (electronic timer and photo-finish, which was promised) for the meet on time.

Her timing on Friday was way ahead of Pinki Pramanik's mark of 54.92 set in 2003 and Sabina Khatun's time of 56.59 for the meet record. The dapper student of coach Dinesh Kunder however was elated. "I'm confident of doing well at the World championship too," she said.

Manpreet Kaur, the 17-year old from Punjab, heaved the four-kilogram iron ball to a distance of 14.35m, which was marginally short of her own National youth record bettering effort in the Senior Federation Cup at Kolkata, recently.

The results: Boys: 100m: 1. K. Pawan Kumar (AP) 10.7s, 2. Chandrabhan Maurya (UP) 10.8s, 3. S.S. Angelo (Ker) 10.9s. 400m: 1. Ashish Mondal (WB) 48.7s, 2. Jithin Paul (Ker) 49.3s, 3. Vishal Yadav (UP) 49.5s. 1500m: 1. Somra Oraon (Jhar) 4:06.4s, 2. Dibin Davis (Ker) 4:07.1s, 3. Vinit Mallik (U'khand) 4:07.3s. Long jump: 1. S.S. Angelo (Ker) 7.12m, 2. Ankit Sharma (MP) 6.95m, 3. A. Rosito Sax (TN) 6.83m. Shot put: 1. Ajay Singh (Del) 17.47m, 2. Sanjeev Kumar Singh (UP) 16.91m, 3. Sanjiv Rathi (Del) 16.84m. Javelin: 1. Virender Kumar (Har) 65.0m (NMR; Old: Sandeep, Har, 63.46 in 2006). 2. Krishna Kumar Patel (UP) 64.88m, 3. Sandeep (Har) 59.99m. 110m hurdles: 1. Saba Bhagat (Mah) 14.5s, 2. Dileep Venugopal (Ker) 14.6s, 3. Gurvinder Singh (Pun) 14.9s. 2000m steeplechase: 1. Shekar Kunwar (Utt) 6:22.4s, 2. Suresh Kumar Patel (UP) 6:25.3s, 3. Dharmendra Yadav (Mah) 6:30.8s. 10km walk: 1. Amit Kumar Munshiram (Guj) 52:50.1s, 2. Pawan Kumar (Raj) 54:28.1s, 3. Sunil Harale (Mah) 56:55.0s.

Girls: 100m: 1. Srabani Nanda (Ori) 12.1s, 2. C. Shilpa (Ker) 12.2s, 3. Bhagyashri Shirke (Mah) 12.3s. 400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma (Kar) 54.7s, 2. Debashree Majumdar (WB) 56.7s, 3. Jauna Murmu (Ori) 57.6s. 1500m: 1. L. Surya (TN) 4:45.8s, 2. Shibani Das (WB) 4:48.9s, 3. Swati Gadhave (Mah) 4:53.6s. High jump: 1. G.M. Aishwarya (Kar) 1.58m, 2. K. Anandhi (TN) 1.55m, 3. S. Devipriya (Pondi) 1.55m. Long jump: 1. G.M. Aishwarya (Kar) 5.47m, 2. Renubala Mohanta (Ori) 5.38m, 3. S. Delphin Rani (TN) 5.26m. 100m hurdles: 1. G. Gayathri (TN) 14.1s, 2. K. Keerthana (TN) 14.7s, 3. M.S. Darshana (Ker) 15.3s. Shot put: 1. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 14.35m, 2. J. Saranya (Ker) 11.26 mts, 3. Pinki Dey (WB) 11.01m. Javelin throw: 1. Sophia Kispotta (Jhar) 35.92m, 2. Rajashri More (Mah) 32.48m, 3. E. Rubi (TN) 31.62m. Hammer throw: 1. R. Muthuselvi (TN) 34.52m, 2. P.S. Amrutha (Ker) 31.70m, 3. E. Hemapriya (TN) 31.60m.