The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Thejas wins u-19 long jump gold

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Thejas wins u-19 long jump gold

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

Thejas Gangodhar

KOCHI: After leaping powerfully over seven metres in the fifth round, long jumper Manjesh Kumar Yadav raised his hands in joy and relief. Joy, for the Uttar Pradesh youngster was crossing the seven-metre landmark for the first time and relief, for his big jump of 7.19m pushed him to the lead in the National Schools athletics championship at the Maharaja’s Stadium here on Wednesday.

But his joy was short-lived. A few minutes later, Maharashtra’s Thejas Gangodhar Salian, the early leader in the under-19 boys’ event with seven metres, also jumped 7.19m. Despite the tie, since Thejas had a better series of jumps, he got the gold with the silver going to Manjesh.

“Three times over seven metres, that’s the best series I’ve ever done,” said Thejas, a 12th standard student of Mumbai’s V.G. Vaze College, who has his roots in Mangalore. The day also brought in his personal best.

Kerala’s M.D. Thara, from Palakkad’s Parli School which has been producing quality long-distance runners for the last couple of years, comfortably won the under-19 girls’ 3,000m while Andhra Pradesh’s K. Anitha Devi, who is blessed with a wide arm-span, pulled off a surprise victory in the senior girls’ discus throw.

Anitha, a 12th standard student of Vijayawada’s S.C.S. Junior College, was in the third spot behind Punjab’s Priyanka Devi and Tamil Nadu’s A. Sindhuja, but she produced her best in her last throw to take the gold.

No records

There were no records on the opening day but there was a close tussle in the under-17 boys’ high jump, between Delhi’s Sikandar Singh and Karnataka’s S. Harshith. It was a repeat of the junior national clash between the two a couple of months ago in Mysore and once again Sikander was successful with a personal best 1.96m.

After comfortably clearing all the heights, the Delhi youngster went for a new record, at 2.01m, but failed in all his attempts.

Kerala Sports Minister M. Vijayakumar inaugurated the five-day championship in a colourful function. Education Minister M.A. Baby presided over the opening ceremony.

The results (winners only):

Under-19 boys: Long jump: Thejas Gangodhar Salian (Mah,) 7.19m. Shot put: Jasdeep Singh (Punj.) 16.33m. Under-17 boys: 3,000m: Ramdas Sahni (UP) 8:53.16s. High jump: Sikandar Singh (Del) 1.96 m. Under-19 girls: 3,000m: M. D. Thara (Ker) 10:04.75s. Discus: K. Anitha Devi (AP) 37.71m.

Under-17 girls: 3,000m: Arti Yadav (UP) 10:03.14s.

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