Double for Namita Kabat

Sikander of Haryana who won the boy's high jump gold in the 7th National Youth (under-18) athletics championship at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore. Photo: K. Ananthan

Namita Kabat completed a sweet double by clinching the girls' 1,000m gold on the penultimate day of the seventh National Youth (under-18) athletics championship at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

The wonder girl from Jharkhand, who had won the 800m on the opening day, stayed with the pack for most part before sprinting down the home stretch for the gold, and glory, in the energy-sapping 1,000m race.

Cheer for the host

The host had something to cheer about as strong contenders P. Suganya and M.R. Gunasundari, as expected, struck a gold medal each in their respective events.

Sikander of Haryana took the boys' high-jump gold with a mark 2.01m, comfortably beating Maharashtra's Devinder Singh.

The 17-year-old Suganya, a product of the St. Joseph's Sports Academy in Chennai, came up with a silky-smooth leap of 11.11m in her fifth attempt for the long jump gold.

Gunasundari was out of sorts at the start of the discus final. Ketki Sethi of Punjab and Sara Vohra of Maharastra enjoyed good heaves and looked good to wrest the top two spots before Gunasundari surprised the sizeable audience with a superior effort (34.32m) in her final attempt to seal the issue in her favour.

The results

Boys: 800m: 1. Anvin S. Johnson (Ker) 1:56.37s; 2. A. Laxmi Ram (AP) 1:57.68; 3. Kamaldeep Matiyani (Utra) 1:58.24. 1000m: 1. Rahul Kumar Pal (Mah) 2:34.21s; 2. Sanjay (Har) 2:34.87; 3. D. Babji (Jha) 2:34.95. High jump: 1. Sikander (Har) 2.01m; 2. Devinder Singh (Mah) 1.97; 2. Surender Kumar (Har) 1.95. Discus: 1. Arjun (Del) 64.09m (NMR); 2. Vikas (Har) 56.64; 3. Susheel Kumar Tripathi (UP) 51.70.

Girls: 100m hurdles: 1. Purnima Hembram (Ori) 15.22s; 2. P.G. Adheena (Ker) 15.56; 3. Prajna S. Prakash (Kar) 15.94. 1000m: 1. Namita Kabat (Jha) 2:58.40s; 2. Sahanara Khatun (WB) 2:59.50; 3. Ritu Dinkar (Jha) 3:01.47. 3000m: 1. Sahanara Khatun (WB) 10.20.89; 2. Pooja Warade (Mah) 10.27.27; 3. P. Dhanapriya (TN) 10.40.04. 5000m walk: Khusbir Kaur (Pun) 27:23.14s; 2. Pooja Jat (Mah) 29:21.16; 3. Roshini Waman (Mah) 30:57.72. Long jump: 1. Shipu Mondal (WB) 5.30m; 2. M. Priyanka (Ker) 5.10; 3. Kalyani Sikdar (WB) 4.97. Triple jump: 1. P. Suganya (TN) 11.11m; 2. Mahua Paul (WB) 10.88; 3. Kari Purty (Jha) 10.76. Shot put: 1. Ketki Sethi (Punj) 11.67m; 2.Sara Vohra (Mah) 10.52; 3. M.R. Gunasundari (TN) 10.29. Discus: 1. M.R. Gunasundari (TN) 34.32m; 2. Katki Sethi (Pun) 33.52; 3. Sara Vohra (Mah) 33.07.