Athletics: Tamil Nadu and Kerala win the overall men’s and women’s team championships

Siddhant Thingalaya equalled his National record of 13.65 as he won the men’s 110 metres hurdles in the 18th Federation Cup athletics championships at the NIS Complex here on Tuesday.

Siddhant Thingalaya and M.R. Poovamma were adjudged the ‘best athletes’ of the championships. Tamil Nadu won the overall team championships ahead of Kerala. The teams won the men’s and women’s titles respectively.

In men’s triple jump, national record holder and Commonwealth Games medallist Arpinder Singh had no difficulty winning with his third jump of 16.70 in the final. Renjith Maheshwary could not fight, as he had a best of 16.43 on the last attempt, after efforts of 16.40 and 16.41.

Krishna Poonia risked an injured left knee to clinch the women’s discus gold with her last throw of 56.84 metres, more than three and a half metres ahead of World junior bronze medallist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon. After throws of 54.83, 55.38 and 55.49, the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medallist stepped it up in the last throw.

In women’s 400m, M.R. Poovamma clocked 52.42, beating Priyanka Panwar for the gold.

In men’s hammer throw, Chandrodaya Narayan Singh of Uttar Pradesh won with his second throw of 67.84, to better his own mark of 67.78. Kamalpreet Singh, who holds the national record of 70.37, settled for the silver with his third throw of 66.78.

Sushmita Singha Roy won the heptathlon two points ahead of Bengal teammate Swapna Barman, with a score of 5402 points.

In the morning, Rahul Kumar Pal of Maharashtra sprinted past Laxmanan of Tamil Nadu for the gold in the 10,000 metres. He had focused on the event and thus enjoyed an advantage over the exhausted 5000m runners, including gold medallist Kheta Ram, who grabbed the bronze after having led for the most part.

In the women’s 10,000 metres, Asian Games gold medallist Preeja Sreedharan was a class apart, finishing at 34:27.94 beating Swati Gadhave by more than two minutes. Meanwhile, the jury reinstated the original results in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, after having disqualified Naveen of Haryana and Ashish of Assam for “pacing”.

The IAAF rules clearly state that any athlete “giving or receiving assistance” from within the area during an event should be warned by the referee and advised that he would be disqualified from that event if it was repeated. It further clarifies about “assistance” being from a “lapped” or “about to be lapped” athlete.

Arguing that that they were from different States, and that one would not assist the other, Naveen was conveniently reinstated champion, and Ashish labelled “DNF” (did not finish), having finished a lap short.

The results: Men: 200m: 1. Manikanda Arumugam 21.21; 2. Velayutham 21.83; 3. M.G. Joseph 21.87. 400m: 1. Kunhu Muhammed 46.40; 2. Arokia Rajiv 46.41; 3. Jibin Sebastian 47.28. 1500m: 1. Jinson Johnson 3:52.60; 2. Ravindra Rautela 3:53.09; 3. Sajeesh Joseph 3:53.38. 10000m: 1. Rahul Kumar Pal 30:04.77; 2. Laxmanan 30:05.20; 3. Kheta Ram 30:08.98. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Naveen 8:46.18; 2. Jaiveer 8:53.36; 3. Manju 8:54.43. 110m hurdles: 1. Siddhant Thingalaya 13.65 (ENR); 2. K. Prem Kumar 13.96; 3. Surrender 14.24. Triple jump: 1. Arpinder Singh 16.70; 2. Renjith Maheshwary 16.43; 3. Rakesh Babu 16.15. Hammer: 1. Chandrodaya Narayan Singh 67.84 (NMR, old 67.78); 2. Kamalpreet Singh 66.78; 3. Neeraj Kumar 66.71. 4x100m relay: 1. Tamil Nadu 40.96; 2. Kerala 41.08; 3. Maharashtra 41.18. 4x400m relay: 1. Navy 3:11.44; 2. Kerala 3:11.62; 3. Punjab 3:13.07.

Women: 200m: 1. Asha Roy 23.89; 2. Srabani Nanda 24.02; 3. Archana 24.94. 400m: 1. M.R. Poovamma 52.42; 2. Priyanka Panwar 53.40; 3. Debashree Majumdar 53.79. 1500m: 1. O.P. Jaisha 4:09.14; 2. Sini Markose 4:18.18; 3. Sushma Devi 4:20.43. 10000m: 1. Preeja Sreedharan 34:27.94; 2. Swati Gadhave 36:28.46; 3. Monika Athare 36:44.15. 100m hurdles: 1. M.M. Anchu 13.80; 2. Deepika 13.81; 3. K.V. Sajitha 13.86. Discus: 1. Krishna Poonia 56.84; 2. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon 53.26; 3. Praveen Kumari 46.65. Heptathlon: 1. Sushmita Singha Roy 5402; 2. Swapna Barman 5400; 3. Liksy Joseph 5351. 4x100m relay: 1. Kerala 46.47; 2. West Bengal 46.56; 3. Punjab 47.27. 4x400m relay: 1. ONGC 3:42.26 (NMR, old 3:42.70); 2. Kerala 3:45.96; 3. Haryana 3:48.50.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Kamesh Srinivasan / Patiala – August 19th, 2014