Sport - Athletics

Renjith, Hari Sankar well below par

MADURAI: On a day of mediocre performances, the lack of pep in Renjith Maheswary’s jumps stood out as the 48th National inter-State athletics championships went through a 11-final card at the MGR Stadium here on Sunday.

Renjith, struggling to find the form that took him to 17.04 in the Asian Grand Prix at Guwahati last year, from the Osaka World championships (16.38) onwards, came second with 16.21 metres.

Amarjeet Singh who beat Ranjeet at the Patiala Grand Prix meet also won again, with a meet record of 16.67 metres. Bibu Mathew, who like Renjith has been showing poor form of late, came third with 15.90m.

Renjith is one among the qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics. His poor form, despite a stint of training in the US, should cause concern to the coaches and the federation.

Shameer Mon of Kerala emerged as the fastest man of the meet clocking 10.50s, a personal best, in winning the men’s 100 metres. The 25-year-old Armyman from Kottayam, had a previous best of 10.52s.

The first-round elimination of national record holder Anil Kumar in the men’s 100 metres for two false starts was the shock of the day as heats were gone through in the short dash. Two rounds and the final were completed in one session, with the last race coming off at 11 p.m.

Poonam Tomar won the women’s 100m title.

Prince Jose, an unheralded 20-year-old high jumper from Wayanad, Kerala, upstaged a clutch of top-notchers in a contest that did not go above 2.05 metres, the height at which four were tied. Jose, a former University and champion, had the edge on countback as he had cleared his heights on the first attempts.

Hari Sankar Roy, who could have been expected to aim for the Olympic qualification mark during the season, if not here, had three failures at 2.05, his opening height, in a competition that was marred by the dances, loud music and fireworks display. The jumpers were also affected by the winds.

The fireworks and blaring music during competitions only went to show the organizational machinery in a poor way on a day when the Press was left in darkness immediately after the events despite a request to keep the lights on.

The results: Men: 100m: 1. Shameer Mon (Ker) 10.50, 2. Vilas Neelgund (AP) 10.55, 3. Ajay Kumar Nayak (Jharkhand) 10.61; 1500m: 1. Sandeep (Har) 3:50.77, 2. Prakash Verma (Del) 3:50.89, 3. Ranjan K. K. (Chhatisgarh) 3:53.89; 10,000m: 1. Kashinath Aswale (Jharkhand) 29:12.65, 2. Ajai Kumar Patel (UP) 29:27.03, 3. Soji Mathew (Ker) 2:48.26; High jump: 1. Prince Jose (Ker) 2.05, 2. B. Elakumaran (TN) 2.05, 3. Benedict Starli (TN) 2.05; Triple jump: 1. Amarjeet Singh (Jharkhand) 16.67 (NMR, previous 16.50), 2. Renjith Maheswary (Ker) 16.21, 3. Bibu Mahew (Ker) 15.90.

Women: 100m: 1. Poonam Tomar (Del) 11.93, 2. Sarda Narayanan (TN) 11.98, 3. H. M. Jyothi (AP) 12.01; 1500m: 1. O. P. Jaisha (Ker) 4:24.08, 2. Priyanka Singh Patel (UP) 4:27.58, 3. Kiran Tiwari (Uttarakhand) 4:31.88; 10,000m: 1. Priti Rao (Jharkhand) 36:23.62, 2. M. Sudha (TN) 38:08.59, 3. Manjusha C. A. (Ker) 40:08.30; Pole vault: 1. V. S. Sureka (TN) 3.70, 2. Jisha R. (Ker) 3.00, 3. Remy R. (Ker) 2.60; Shot put: 1. N. Latha (TN) 13.43, 2. Sushma (Del) 13.09, 3. Patwant Kaur (Pun) 12.95; Hammer: 1. Vipin Kumari (Del) 52.12m, 2. Archana Bara (Bih) 49.66, 3. Sukanya Mishra (UP) 48.09.

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