The Hindu : Sport : Anil breaks 80m barrier in javelin

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Sport

Anil breaks 80m barrier in javelin

K. P. Mohan

Indians reap a rich haul in low-key contests

Saroj Sihag upset Krishna Poonia to win women’s discus
Priyadharshani pipped Mayookha in long jump

— PHOTO: A.M. Faruqui

BRILLIANT EFFORT: Anil Singh broke Satbir Singh’s National record with a throw of 80.72m in Bhopal on Thursday.

BHOPAL: In a meet generally reduced to an all-India show, javelin thrower Anil Singh stood out with a National record of 80.72 metres in the Asian All Stars athletics championships at the Tatia Tope Stadium here on Thursday.

The majority of the Asian ‘elite’ did not enter in this meet; many of those who were expected to come, including two top-ranked Chinese, did not turn up. The meet was thus reduced to an avenue for the Indian athletes to earn some fame and substantial prize money.

Anil’s second throw crossed the 80-metre marking. It was not immediately known to the large gathering whether someone had bettered a National record till an announcement was made much later.

Barring the occasion when Ramandeep Singh threw past the 80-metre mark (80.56) during the Asian Games trials in Delhi in December 1998, no Indian had gone past that barrier. Ramandeep’s mark was not recognised as a National record since it was done during trials.

The record to go out was that of Satbir Singh, who had posted 79.68m in Kolkata in October 1998.

Confident

“I and my coach were confident of breaching the National mark today,” said Anil, a 23-year-old Railway employee who hails from Bhiwani, Haryana, and is posted in Mumbai whose previous best of 76.31 had come in 2005 and whose season best was 74.11 in the Open in Kochi.

Indians won half of the gold medals at stake in the 18-event card on a day when early morning rains made the organisers’ life miserable and late evening showers spoilt part of the programme. Part of women’s long jump, the entire women’s 1500m and men’s 5000m races were held in pouring rain.

Thin fields

In thin fields where there was either no foreign opponent or no opposition worth the name, barring men’s 400m hurdles and javelin and women’s 100m and 1500m, the Indians won. Just three ran the women’s 800 metres, Kazakh Margarita Matsko edging Tintu Luka at the tape; just three, again, competed in women’s discus, all of them Indians, with Saroj Sihag upsetting Krishna Poonia who could manage only 51.78 metres as against her season best of 63.41.

National discus record holder Seema Antil and season leader and Doha Asian Games champion Song Aimin of China, who was entered, were conspicuous by their absence.

The one girl on whom all eyes were focused, Mayookha Johny, disappointed, coming second to Sri Lankan N.C.D. Priyadharshani in a mediocre women’s long jump field.

The Sri Lankan pipped the favourite Indian, who has a season best 6.44, by a centimeter with a last-round jump of 6.17 metres.

The results (Indians unless stated): Men: 100m: 1. B.G. Nagraj 10.52, 2. Abdul Najeeb Qureshi 10.56, Ganesh Satpute 10.64; 400m: 1. Mitsuhiro Abiko (Jpn) 46.23, 2. Prasanna Amarasekara (Sri) 46.47, 3. Virender Kumar Pankaj 47.10; 800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph 1:48.93, 2. S. Prakash Verma 1:49.73, 3. Ghamanda Ram 1:51.01; 5000m: 1. Surendra Kumar Singh 14:25.68, 2. Sandeep Bathum 14:26.22, 3. Ajay Kumar 14:28.05; 400m hurdles: 1. Joseph Abraham 50.88, 2. Yosuke Tsushima (Jpn) 51.18, 3. Avin Thomas 51.75; High jump: 1. Hikaru Tsuchiya (Jpn) 2.18, 2. Lee Hup Wei (Mas) 2.18, 3. Hari Sankar Roy (Ind) 2.18; Triple jump: 1. Yevgeniy Ektov (Kaz) 16.32, 2. Ko Dae Young (Kor) 16.25, 3. Amarjeet Singh (Ind) 16.03; Shot put: 1. Om Prakash 18.68, 2. Saurabh Vij 18.14, 3. Grigoriy Kamulya (Uzb) 17.51; Discus: 1. Mahmood Samimi (Pak) 58.55, 2. Mohammad Samimi (Iri) 51.69, 3. Smranjit Singh 51.68; Javelin: 1. Anil Singh 80.72 (NR, previous 79.68), 2. Kazuki Yamomoto (Jpn) 75.06, 3. Sandeep Yadav 73.78.

Women: 100m: 1. H.M. Jyothi 11.79, 2. Anastasya Pelepenko (Kaz) 11.79, 3. Vu Thi Huong (Vie) 11.79; 400m: 1. Asami Tanno (Jpn) 53.00, 2. Marina Maslenko (Kaz) 53.04, 3. Satti Geetha 53.86; 800m: 1. Margarita Matsko (Kaz) 2:05.84, 2. Tintu Luka 2:05.89, 3. Sangeeta Yadav 2:21.08; 1500m: 1. Sinimole Paulose 4:21.13, 2. Truong Thanh Hang (Vie) 4:22.82; 100m hurdles: 1. Anastasiya Pelepenko (Kaz) 13.36, 2. Natalya Ivoninskaya (Kaz) 13.51, 3. Sheena Atilano (Phi) 14.07; High jump: 1. Bui Thi Nhing (Vie) 1.88, 2. Yekaterina Yevseyeva (Kaz) 1.85, 3. Kavya Muthanna 1.70; Long jump: 1. N.C. D. Priyadharshani (Sri) 6.17, 2. Mayookha Johny 6.16, 3. Thitima Muangjan (Tha) 6.11; Discus: 1. Saroj Sihag 52.13, 2. Krishna Poonia 51.78, 3. Amanpreet Kaur 44.77.