A day after emerging as the fastest under-14 boy, with a meet mark, Tamil Nadu’s R. Naveen stunningly proved that he could be good in the distances too.
The youngster, from the Madurai SDAT centre and coached by R. Kannan, broke the National mark in the 600m, the longest distance 14-year-olds are allowed to run in athletics, at the 25th National junior inter-zone championship here on Monday.
Naveen has athletics in his blood. “My dad S.P. Ramu was an under-16 National gold medallist in the 800m many years ago,” he said. “He brought me to athletics eight or nine months ago.”
Naveen’s was the lone National record of the day. The fare was mostly mediocre but the timing of the some of the events had to take the blame for this.
Some of the country’s brightest under-18 long jumpers were forced to sweat under a hot sun on a runway that had a reputation of letting jumpers down. And in the fourth round, almost all the girls came up with fouls.
Tamil Nadu’s G. Karthika, from SAI Mayiladuthurai, took an early lead and topped with a 5.62m in her last jump to comfortably take the gold in the event.
Four hours later, the girls were back in the pit, for the triple jump, and this time Kerala’s Athira Surendran (SAI Thalassery) was an easy winner.
The winners:
Boys: Under-20: 1500m: Shailendra Singh (Bih) 3:58.18s. 110m hurdles: Tarundeep Singh (Pun) 14.33s. 400m hurdles: Jagadeesh Chandra (Kar) 53.58s. 10,000m race walk: Gaurav Kumar (Uttk) 50:50.63s. Pole vault: Anuj (Har) 4.30m.
Under-18: 1500m: Twinkle Tomy (Ker) 4:02.38s. 110m hurdles: Maymon Paulose (Ker) 14.37s. 400m hurdles: Sumit Kumar Jaiswal (Mah) 53.81s (MR, Old: 53.86). Pole vault: Deepak (Har) 4.10m. Discus throw: Amit Kumar (Raj) 52.98m. Shot put: Jaspal Singh (Har) 16.99m. Hammer throw: Sabeel Ahmed (UP) 60.19m.
Under-16: 1000m: Narayan Satish (Mah) 2:35.81s. 100m hurdles: Debaarjun Murmu (WB) 14.17s. Hammer throw: M. Pradeep Kumar (Raj) 60.82m.
Under-14: 600m: R. Naveen (TN) 1:23.22s (NR, Old: 1:24.54).
Girls: Under-20: 1500m: Preeti Lamba (Del) 4:42.56s. 100m hurdles: P. Deepika (TN) 14.47s. 400m hurdles: P. Merlin (Ker) 1:03.21s. 10,000m race walk: Saraj Rani (Pun) 1:01.53.26s. Triple jump: Bhairabi Roy (WB) 12.10m. High jump: Jyoti (Har) 1.63m. Discus throw: V. Nandhini (TN) 39.70m.
Under-18: 1500m: Preeti Mehta (Uttk) 4:49.98s. 100m hurdles: S.G. Priyanka (Kar) 14.59s. 400m hurdles: Gouri Rani Hansda (WB) 1:05.33s. Long jump: G. Karthika (TN) 5.62m. High jump: Juelly (Mah) 1.63m. Triple jump: Athira Surendran (Ker) 12.09m. Javelin throw: Gopika Narayanan (Ker) 42.44m.
Under-16: 1000m: Nitu Kumari (Jha) 2:54.48s (MR, Old: 3:01.43). 100m hurdles: S. Priyadharshini (TN) 14.93s. Long jump: Diphna Jose (Ker) 5.42m. Shot put: J. Gowrishankari (TN) 12.23m.
Under-14: 600m: L. Samyasri (TN) 1:40.84s.
