The Hindu : Sport : Kerala's Arunjith sprints to a double

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Thursday, Feb 15, 2007
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Kerala's Arunjith sprints to a double

A. Vinod

NOSING AHEAD: S. Arunjith was too good for his rivals in the 200m event. — Photo: R. Ragu

Guwahati: It was a hard and frustrating day for the athletes. For the rain, which hit the city in all its fury on Wednesday, turned upside down the fourth day's proceedings of the athletic events of the 33rd National Games at the Indira Gandhi stadium, Sarasujai.

The threat of rain playing spoilsport was very much in evidence right after the morning session had been completed under rather controversial conditions and a protest over the results of the 20km walk for men.

Consequently, the conditions were quite poor when the afternoon session got underway what with the persistent rain leaving the athletes completely wet and shivering. It was indeed a tough task for the athletes to keep themselves warmed up and put their best foot forward and compete under the conditions which prevailed.

But all the same, it did not stop S. Arunjith (Kerala) from completing a fine sprint double, by adding the 200m gold to the one that he had picked up in the 100m for men on Sunday, the opening day of the meet.

The teenager from Kollam did not suffer from any problems as he had faced in the shorter distance, this afternoon as he came through at the top of the pack after the bend.

In the end, the FMN College student, who has been performing consistently at the junior and inter-university levels through the last couple of years, was also credited with a personal best of 21.32 as he finished ahead of Vishal Saxena (Uttar Pradesh) and P. Muthusamy (Tamil Nadu).

The men's 400m hurdles saw another Kerala athlete, Joseph G. Abraham picking up a gold in a much similar fashion to that of his younger teammate.

In control

The National record holder was always in control as he established an early lead over his rivals and then actually ambled to the finish at 51.62s. P. Shankar (Andhra Pradesh) was second at 52.70s ahead of Kerala's Avin A. Thomas, the eventual bronze-medallist at 52.79s.

In the women's section, V. Leelavathi (Tamil Nadu), however, had to struggle hard before winning the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:01.74. The Chennai girl was left trailing Kerala's Leena Cherian until the ninth hurdle before she changed gears and hit upfront. The inter-varsity champion was finally clocked at 1:01.74 as she finished ahead of Leena (1:02.23).

The 200m gold was there for the taking for Andhra Pradesh's H.M. Jyothi after her sound start. Running the bend quite well, she was comfortably placed when the athletes hit the home stretch, as Rakhi Saha (Bengal) and R. Elavarasi (Tamil Nadu) were already left in a bitter battle for the silver by then. Jyothi was timed at 24.52s before Rakhi took the silver ahead of her Tamil Nadu rival.

With the rain gaining intensity, the officials were forced to suspend the conduct of the remaining events, including the women's high jump and the men's triple jump and hammer throw which by then had begun.

The only event which was completed thereafter was the men's decathlon which ended in a win for fancied Jora Singh (Haryana) and this too as the rules dictated that the event had to be completed within two days.

Protest

The protest over K. Somendro Singh's win in the 20km walk event too would be taken up by the jury only on Thursday. The contention that the Services walker had completed only 49 laps instead of the mandatory 50 was what did pave the way for the protest and consequently the results of the event was not released to the media.

The results:

Men: 200m: 1. S. Arunjith (Ker), 21.32s, 2. Vishal Saxena (UP), 21.62s, 3. P. Muthusamy (TN), 21.66s; 400m hurdles: 1. Joseph G. Abraham (Ker), 51.62s, 2. P. Shankar (AP), 52.70s, 3. Avin A. Thomas (Ker), 52.79s. Decathlon: 1. Jora Singh (Har), 6712 points, 2. P.J. Vinod (Ker), 6642, 3. Mandeep Kumar (AP), 6444.

Women: 200m: 1. H. M. Jyothi (AP), 24.52s, 2. Rakhi Saha (Ben), 25.32s, 3. R. Elavarasi (TN), 25.38s. 400m hurdles: 1. V. Leelavathi (TN), 1:01.74, 2. Leena Cherian (Ker), 1:02.23, 3. Harpreet Kaur (Pun), 1:03.46s.

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