Mayookha Johny and Tintu Luka registered personal bests as the Indian athletes struggled to make their mark in mediocre fields on the opening day of the two-day Asian All-Star athletics meet at the Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
Coming back into top-level competition after a year's lay-off, Mayookha had been performing incredibly this season, though at times showing inexplicable slumps.
Yet, on Thursday she leapt to her career-best 6.64m, bettering her performance in the Asian Grand Prix in Bangalore (6.49) last month. Mayookha had a series of 6.26, foul, 6.43, 6.64.
She apparently passed her last two attempts, though the results showed them as NM (meaning no mark) which could mean no legitimate mark was recorded, which in turn can only mean ‘foul'.
Bronze for Prajusha
The Indian season leader so far, M.A. Prajusha (6.55m at Bangalore) had to settle for the bronze behind Uzbek Yuliya Tarasova (6.49) with a first-round 6.30. Reshmi Bose (6.13) came fifth.
Luka, following up her good performance this season, ran from the front, as is her wont, to effortlessly take the women's 800 metres in 2:01.24, a shade better than her Kochi National performance of 2:01.61 last May.
“She did not have any one to push her on the straight,” noted coach P.T. Usha as she analysed her ward's race.
She had a 58.2 for the opening lap when she had built up a commanding lead, leaving Sinimole Paulose and others to sort out the silver.
Mediocrity
The women's 800m was no exception to the rule of mediocrity that unfolded in the form of foreign opposition. As Indians bagged medal after medal, the arranged crowd of schoolchildren, made to wait for a long time outside, enjoyed the atmosphere.
Strangely, the National anthems were played though this was not a representative meet but an invitational one.
Vikas Gowda disappointed. Coming into this competition as the second best (63.22m) in Commonwealth, the US-based Indian could manage only 54.39.
Men's discus comprised only Indian athletes, though this was also part of All Stars meet.
Mandeep Kaur clocked a season best 52.29s in winning the 400 metres.
The Punjab woman had timed 53.65 in Yalta, Ukraine, in May and this effort showed that she was getting back into top form. Jauna Murumu (53.26) had a personal best for the third place.
The other woman quarter-milers, back from a training stint in Ukraine, disappointed. Sini Jose (53.45) was fifth, Ashwini (53.69) was sixth and Manjeet Kaur failed to finish.
The results (Indians unless stated):
Men: 400m: Sajjad Hashemi (Iri) 46.77, 2. Reza Bouzar (Iri) 46.88, 3. P. Kunhumohammad 47.12. 800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph 1:48.92, 2. Ghamnda Ram 1:50.25, 3. Abdul Haris (Ina) 1:50.78. 110m hurdles: 1. Jumrut Rittidet (Tha) 13.88, 2. Fawaz Al-Shammari (Kuw) 13.89, 3. Hassan Mat (Mas) 14.61. High jump: 1. Manjula Kumara Wijesekara (Sri) 2.21, 2.Vitaliy Tsykuonov (Kaz) 2.18, 3. Hari Sankar Roy 2.15. Long jump: 1. Ankit Sharma 7.61, 2. Maha Singh 7.50, 3. Hari Krishna 7.50. Discus: 1. Vikas Gowda 54.39, 2. Arjun Singh 47.54, 3. Arpinder Singh 47.22. Javelin: 1. Rinat Tarzumanov (Uzb) 77.48, 2. Kashinath Naik 74.21, 3. Samarjeet Singh 72.49.
Women: 400m: Mandeep Kaur 52.29, 2. Juliya Gavrilova (Kaz) 52.93, 3. Jauna Murmu 53.17. 800m: 1. Tintu Luka 2:01.24, 2. Sinimole Paulose 2:04.58, 3. Jinnouchi Ayako (Jpn) 2:05.51. 5000m: 1. Triyaningsih(Ina)16:24.12, 2. Sitora Khamidova (Uzb) 16:51.08, 3. Ekaterina Tunguskova (Uzb) 17:37.25. 100m hurdles: 1. Anastasiya Sopurnova (Kaz) 13.66, 2. Gayathri Govindaraj 13.82, 3. Anastasiya Proshkina (Uzb) 13.84. Long jump: 1. Mayookha Johny 6.64, 2. Yuliya Tarasova (Uzb) 6.49, 3. M. A. Prajusha 6.30. Shot put: 1. Yang Yanbo (Chn) 16.65, 2. Safiya Burkhanova (Uzb) 16.06, 3. Liu Jing (Chn) 15.14.
