They were trailing on the first two days, but the young boys and girls from Kerala proved once again that they are far ahead of their rivals in Indian athletics.
They ran away with the overall title at the National youth athletics championship for the fifth time in a row on an unexpectedly wet Saturday. They finished with 156 points when the curtain came down on the three-day meet at the University Stadium.
Tamil Nadu, which finished second, could muster only 111. Haryana was third, with 95 points, while Uttar Pradesh, which had led the table after the first two days, ended up fourth with 78.
The star of the final day was the host’s Nivya Antony, who set the new National record in the girls’ pole vault. She cleared 3.31m to erase the 2011 mark of 3.30m, set by Sinju Prakash, also of Kerala.
The results: Boys: 200m: 1. S. Manish (Kar) 22.21s; 2. Rejaul Mollah (Ben) 22.24s; 3. Nithin (TN) 22.48d.
400m: 1. Nowajis Shaikh (Bih) 48.75s; 2. Gaurav (Har) 49.63s; 3. Akshu Sindhu (Har) 50.01. 800m: 1. Nitin (Del) 1:55.88; 2. Ankit (Har) 1:56.26; Amandeep Kumar (UP) 1:56.61. 400m hurdles: 1. A. Rashid (Ker) 53.74s; 2. Amarjeet (Har) 54.72s; 3. Aman (Hary) 55.70.
2000m steeplechase: 1. Raj Kumar (Del) 6:00.28: NMR; OR: 6:01.23; 2. Vikas Poonia (Mah) 6:00.64; 3. Naveen Malik (Har) 6:00.82.
Triple jump: 1. John Jacob (TN) 14.49m; 2. Maniraj (TN) 14.48m; 3. A. Ajith (Ker) 14.24m.
Javelin: 1. Vijay Lakra (Jha) 64.94m; 2. Arshdeep Singh (Pun) 62.01m; 3. Vinay Kumar (Raj) 55.81m.
1000m sprint medley relay: 1. Haryana 1:57.43; 2. Kerala 1:57.71; 3. Karnataka 2:00.59.
Girls: 200m: 1. Ramalakshmi (TN) 25.67s; 2. Rajasree Prasad (Ben) 26.26s; 3. G. Nithya (Tel) 26.42s. 400m: 1. Jisna Mathew (Ker) 53.88s; 2. Linet George (Ker) 57.63s; 3. Nidhi Singh (Mah) 59.97s. 800m: 1. Abitha Mary Manuel (AFI) 2:10.52: NMR; OR: 2:10.72; 2. Samyasri (TN) 2;16.60; 3. Durga Deore (Mah) 2:18.61.
400m hurdles: 1. S. Arshitha (Ker) 1:05.22; 2. V. Vishalakshi (Tel) 1:05.31; 3. Abigail Arokianathan (Ker) 1:05.42.
2000m steeplechase: 1. Priyanka (Pun) 7:21.23: NMR; OR: 7:39.73; 2. Varsha Nagar (UP) 7:39.73; 3. Ashta Ojha (UP) 7:54.99.
Triple jump: 1. Priyadarshini (TN) 12.62m; 2. Alphy Luckose (Ker) 12.29m; 3. Lizbeth Karoline Joseph (Ker) 12.29m.
Pole vault: 1. Nivya Antony (Ker) 3.31m: NR; OR: 3.30m; 2. Divya Mohan (Ker) & Anjaly Francis (Ker) 2.70m.
Discus: 1. Karuniya (TN) 38.59m; 2. Bhavana Yadav (Del) 37.68m; 3. Salmi Kispota (Odi) 36.61m.
1000m sprint medley relay: 1. Kerala 2:19.35; 2. Telengana 2:21.87; 3. Bengal 2:23.17.
Heptathlon: 1. Trisha Dhar (Ben) 4090 pts.; 2. M.R. Dhanusha (Kar) 3778 pts.; 3. Tina Durga (TN) 3481 pts.
