V. Neena was nowhere close to her best but still managed to win gold by a fair margin in the long jump with a distance of 6.43m on the opening day of the National Open athletics championships here on Tuesday.
Coming just over a month after the culmination of the Rio Olympics, the competition was expected to be a star-shorn affair and the opening day lived up to the expectation with most of the big names in Indian athletics staying away from the Sports Authority of India’s regional centre here.
Barring a handful of old hands — including Commonwealth gold medallist M. A. Prajusha in long jump, Ashwini Akkunji in 400m and Om Prakash Singh in shot put — there was little by way of competition on the newly-laid track at the venue hosting its first major event. Barring Ashwini, none of the participants at Rio bothered to turn up for the only event before the Asian championships in Ranchi next year.
Neena had managed a personal best 6.66m at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru in July, the last qualifying event for the Rio Olympics, falling short of the qualifying mark of 6.70m. Prajusha finished second with 6.02m while Mayookha Johny, still recovering from her injury sustained before the Olympics, did not participate despite being present.
Sahana’s stranglehold
In the women’s high jump, meanwhile, Sahana Kumari’s stranglehold on the event was broken with the national and meet record-holder pushed to second spot by Kerala’s Jinu Maria Manuel, who cleared 1.82m to take gold. Sahana could only manage 1.77m, almost 20 centimetres less than her national record of 1.92m.
The women’s hammer throw event was unfinished due to poor visibility and would now be completed on Wednesday as the venue does not have permission to install floodlights.
Pakistan’s participation
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association is unsure of Pakistan’s participation in the coming South Asian junior athletics championships to be held next month.
The third edition of the event is expected to held on October 18 and 19 with countries already confirming their participation and entries by number. However, the last date for sending entries by name is September 30 and the organisers are waiting for Pakistan to do so before approaching the Central Government for clearance and security concerns.
The results:
Men: 5000m: 1. G. Laxmanan (SSCB, 14:16.07), 2. Sachin Patil (RSPB, 14:16.95), 3. Abhishek Pa (RSPB, 14:17.38).
Shot put: 1. Om Prakash Singh (ONGC, 18.55m), 2. Jasdeep Singh (RSPB, 18.52), 3. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (SSCB, 18.36).
Women: 5000m: 1. L. Surya (RSPB, 16:05.90), 2. Sanjeevani Jadhav (ONGC, 16:15.05), 3. Monika Athare (LIC, 16:37.45).
Long Jump: 1. V. Neena (RSPB, 6.43m), 2. M.A. Prajusha (RSPB, 6.02), 3. Karthika (TN, 5.95). High Jump: 1. Jinu Maria Manuel (Ker, 1.82m), 2. Sahana Kumari (Kar, 1.77), 3. Swapna Burman (ONGC, 1.77) .
