Shot putter Saurabh Vij struck excellent form in the first meet of the season by reaching 19.80 metres in the Indian Grand Prix meet at the NIS Complex here on Sunday.
On a day marked by average performances and depleted fields, Vij was the only athlete to reach anywhere near an Olympic qualification standard (20.00m) in a field that seemed to have been hurriedly arranged.
Vij opened with a foul and continued with two more fouls before putting to his winning distance with his only legal throw of the evening. With Om Prakash Singh having obtained an Olympic norm (20.07m), Vij will require to better that or else both will need the ‘A' standard of 20.50m to be eligible for the London berth.
Poovamma sizzles
In the women's 400 metres, the lone event in this section against the four originally scheduled, M.R. Poovamma expectedly took the title with a 54.60s finish.
The results: Men: 400m: 1. P. Kunhumohammad (SSCB) 47.11s, 2. S.K. Mortaja (Ben) 47.83, Ajay Kumar (Har) 47.99. 800m: 1. Ravinder Rautela (Ukd) 1:49.11, 2. Ghamanda Ram (ONGC) 1:49.94, 3. Girish Ramachandran (CRPF) 1:51.25.
400m hurdles: 1. Joseph Abraham (RSPB) 51.13s, 2. Avin Thomas (RSPB) 51.14, 3. Jithin Paul (RSPB) 51.63; Long jump: 1. Ankit Sharma (MP) 7.68m, 2. Prem Kumar (TN) 7.32, Wayne Peppin (IB) 7.27; Triple jump: Renjith Maheswary (RSPB) 16.38m, 2. Dharmender Singh (Del)13.83, Navjot (Pun) 13.78; Shot put: 1. Saurabh Vij (ONGC) 19.80m, 2.Navin Kumar (RSPB) 13.18, 3. Ravinder Kumar (Har) 12.40; Javelin: 1.Rajinder Singh (Pun) 71.07m, 2. Samarjit Singh (Pun) 69.44, 3. AnilSingh (Del) 66.92. Women: 400m: 1. M. R. Poovamma (Kar) 54.60s, 2. Debashree Mazumdar(Ben) 54.86, 3. Ratandeep Kaur (Pun) 55.75.
