She was running her first major final this season but Kerala’s Anilda Thomas was far from fresh.
The Rio Olympian was vomiting a few minutes before the start of 400m final at the 57th National senior inter-State athletics championships here on Tuesday evening.
Still, that did not stop the 24-year-old from winning comfortably and walking into the Indian mile relay team for the upcoming London Worlds. “The last few days were terrible. I had a running stomach and I was vomiting a lot too. I was completely drained,” said Anilda who clocked 53.20s.
Close battle
There was a thrilling battle behind her, between Odisha’s Jauna Murmu and Kerala’s Anu Raghavan. But Anu, who was running second, appeared to give up near the finish and Jauna sneaked past.
“I couldn’t…it was just too much, I’m completely drained,” said Anu, the 400m hurdles silver medallist at the Asians. All the three are expected to be given berths in the Indian relay team.
Meanwhile, the gritty Lili Das virtually stuck to P.U. Chitra’s heels and came up with a strong finishing kick to upset the Asian champion and take the women’s 1500m title. For Lili, who had won the 800m earlier, it was a fine double.
Unlike last year’s Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru, the ‘last chance’ for the Rio Olympics, which saw a series of stunning performances, the Guntur meet turned out to be a quiet affair with none making the qualification grade for the Worlds.
Arpinder jumps to gold
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh, who was just five centimetres behind the London’s entry standard in the recent Federation Cup in Patiala with a 16.75m, won the gold but with 16.34m. “We had a series of meets, I was too tired, couldn’t push myself,” said Arpinder.
Tamil Nadu’s V.K. Elakkiya Dasan, who emerged as the fastest man, finished as the happiest athlete.
A long jumper who took a break from the event to rest a painful heel, Elakkiya was running the 100m in just his second major competition after finishing fourth in the Federation Cup. And he improved his personal best, from 10.61 to 10.56s.
“I did not expect this, I started training for the 100m only a few months ago,” said Elakkiya. He said that Odisha’s National record holder Amiya Kumar Mallick had pulled out of the semifinal with a muscle problem.
With Dutee Chand and Srabani Nanda missing, Kerala’s Merlin Joseph emerged as the fastest woman.
Kerala won the overall championship and the women’s team title while Haryana won the men’s title.
The results (gold medallists only): Men: 100m: Elakkiya Dasan (TN) 10.56s. 400m: Amoj Jacob (Del) 46.50. 1500m: Ajay Kumar Saroj (UP) 3:45.88. 10,000m: Pradeep Singh Chaudhary (Utr) 30:19.36. 4x400m relay: Tamil Nadu 3:11.52s. 110m hurdles: Siddhanth Thingalaya (Mah) 13.76 (MR, OR: own, 13.81). Triple jump: Arpinder Singh (Har) 16.34. Hammer: Bhupinder Singh (UP) 64.81.
Women: 100m: Merlin Joseph (Ker) 11.65. 400m: 1. Anilda Thomas (Ker) 53.20. 1500m: Lili Das (WB) 4:28.00. 10,000m: Sanjivani Jadhav (AFI) 35:21.33. 4x400m relay: Kerala 3:42.36s. 100m hurdles: Purnima Hembram (Odi) 13.72. Discus: Himani Singh (UP) 46.60m .
