Sport - Athletics

Inter-university championships: MGU begins favourite

KOCHI: With Olympians M.R. Poovamma, Sini Jose and the young Tintu Luka in the fray, the women’s 400m could be the event to watch at the 69th all-India inter-university athletics championships which begins at the Maharaja’s Stadium here on Saturday.

"It will be very, very close. And it has got everything," said Mangalore’s University’s Poovamma after her warm-up on Friday evening. Both Poovamma and the host Mahatma Gandhi University’s (MGU) Sini Jose were in the Indian 4 x 400m relay team in the Beijing Olympics but the talented Tintu, who is trained by P.T. Usha, has the fastest timing among the three.

Tintu, from Calicut University, who is making her debut on the varsities’ stage, however is focusing on the 800m, an event which has her coach worried.

"The organisers have arranged the heats, semifinal and final on the same day (the last two within a space of three hours). Normally, they have a day’s rest before the final," said Usha from Kozhikode. "It will be too taxing for the athletes if they have all the three on the same day."

Tony Daniel, the convener of the championship’s technical committee, said he was trying to work out a solution.

That apart, the five-day event will have some of the country’s brightest faces in the sport. Kannur’s Mayookha Johny, who owns the both the championship’s long jump and triple jump records, begins the favourite in the events once again.

Mayookha landed in Kochi with the hope of breaking Anju George’s senior National triple jump record here but she slipped down the steps and hurt her leg in a hotel here a couple of days ago.

"I don’t think it will be much of a problem in the long jump tomorrow but it could be a worry in the triple jump, which puts a bigger strain on the legs, on the third day," said Mayookha’s coach Jose Mathew.

The host MGU, powered by its young women, topped the gold medal tally last year at Chidambaram and is the favourite to win the overall title.

Pole-vaulter Sithara Ellath, 400m hurdler Leena Cherian, middle-distance star S. R. Bindu, heptathlete Niksy Joseph and one-lapper Sini Jose in the women’s section and decathlete V.V. Rineesh and pole-vaulter Bineesh Jacob in men’s lead the host’s challenge.

The host’s biggest challenge could come from its neighbour Calicut University which, apart from Tintu Luka, has some prominent names like sprinter P.K. Anoop, Jithin Paul (400 and 400 hurdles) and Shejil Varghese (400 hurdles).

The meet starts at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday and the evening session begins at 6.15 p.m. with its first final, the women’s long jump, scheduled for 8 p.m. All the main events will be held under floodlights.

Over 2,000 athletes from 128 universities will figure in the event and as the championship unfolds one can see many new names coming into prominence.

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