All eyes were on Tintu Luka and she did not disappoint, winning the women’s 800 metres by a big margin on the second day of the Greenko 52nd National inter-State senior athletic championship here on Sunday.
However, her time of 2m 01.36s was well below her National record of 1m 59.17s set in Brussels in 2010.
Tintu has clearly emerged as one of the country’s best prospects in the two-lap race. She showed good judgement and pace to pick up the gold, leaving her nearest rival Sinimole Paulose way behind.
Her mentor, P.T. Usha, said later that the level of competition was not good enough to force the best out of Tintu, or she could have returned a better time.
The women’s long jump was won by Prajusha M.A. of Kerala, who produced her best of 6.24 on her third attempt. However, this was well below the meet record set by Mayookha Johny (6.63m).
National record holder Anju George had to miss the event as she has been recovering from a respiratory infection. Though she has resumed training recently, she is not yet fully fit. Anju, who holds the National record of 6.83m, will now have to wait for two competitions in Europe — the Sollentuna Grand Prix in Stockholm on July 5 and the Portuguese National championships in Lisbon on July 7 and 8. The deadline for the Olympics is July 8. Incidentally, the Olympic ‘B’ standard is 6.65m while the ‘A’ standard is 6.75m.
Mediocre show
The second day saw mediocre performances, with most of the winners clocking timings and distances well below the meet and National records. The absence of several top-level athletes as well as the heat and humidity contributed to the below par show by most athletes.
In the men’s 400 metres, P. Kunhumohammed of Kerala coasted to a comfortable victory but his time of 46.20s was below the meet record of 45.56 set by Paramjit Singh in 2000, or the National record of 45.48 by K.M. Binu at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The women’s 400 metres witnessed a better contest with Debashri Mazumdar of Bengal warding off a stiff challenge from Saraswati Chand of Odisha. The Bengal girl’s winning time of 54.60s was, however, way off the meet and National records.
The results:
Men: 400m: 1. P. Kunhumohammed (Ker) 46.20s, 2. Sk Mortaja (WB) 46.91s, 3. Arokya Rajiv (Raj) 47.86s.
800m: 1. Ghamanda Ram (Raj) 1:47.57s, 2. Jinson Johnson (CG) 1:47.80s, 3. Sajeesh Joseph (Ker) 1:48.85s.
3000m steeplechase: 1. Th. Sanjit Luwan (Man) 8:47.09s, 2. Ramachandran (TN) 8:47.58s, 3. Jaiveer (Har) 8:53.32s.
High jump: 1. Jithin J. Thomas (Ker) 2.14m, 2. Harshith (Kar) 2.11m, 3. Nikhil Chittarasu (TN) 2.08m.
Hammer throw: 1. Chandrodaya Narain Singh (UP) 65.95m, 2. Niraj Kumar (Raj) 60.54s, 3. Daler Singh (Pun) 57.10m.
Decathlon: 1. K. Dileep Kumar (Mah) 6676 pts, 2. Chandrahas Kushwaha (UP) 6672 pts, 3. Raneesh V.V. (Ker) 6594 pts.
Women: 400m: 1. Debashri Mazumdar (WB) 54.60s, 2. Saraswati Chand (Odi) 54.89s, 3. Rattandeep Kaur (Pun) 55.08s.
800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Ker) 2:01.36s, 2. Sinimole Paulose (Kar) 2:03.71s, 3. Bindu S.R. (Ker) 2:09.53s.
3000m steeplechase: 1. Priyanka Singh (UP) 10:42.21s, 2. Kiran Tiwari (Har) 10:42.67s, 3. Chinta Yadav (UP) 11:40.42s.
Long jump: 1. Prajusha M.A. (Ker) 6.24m, 2. Shraddha Ghule (Mah) 6.14m, 3. Susan K. Joy (Ker) 6.13m.
Shot put: 1. Patwant Kaur (Pun) 13.76m, 2. P. Udaya Lakshmi (AP) 13.35m, 3. Suparna Ghosh (WB) 13.31m.
