Date:10/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/10/stories/2008071056432100.htm

Sport - Athletics

Jithin Paul, Shejil Verghese fail to progress

NEW DELHI: Jithin Paul and Shejil Verghese failed to cross the opening round of the men’s 400-metre hurdles on the second day of the World junior athletics championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Wednesday.

Paul, the better-rated of the two Indian hurdlers, clocked 54.01 while finishing sixth in his heat while Verghese timed 54.48 for the seventh place in his heat.

The top three in each of the six heats plus six “fastest losers” qualified for the semifinals. Eight runners cracked 52 seconds in the heats.

Woman quarter-miler M.R. Poovamma, who was part of the senior Indian longer relay team that has qualified for the Olympics, finished eighth and last in her 400m heat on Tuesday, clocking one of her poorest timings in recent memory, that of 57.94 seconds.

Jasdeep Singh Dhillon was another Indian to go out at the qualifying stage on Tuesday, reaching a distance of 17.57 metres in shot put and placing 15th in his group.