Muhammed Anas qualified for the World Championship in style by breaking his own National record with a time of 45.32 seconds in the men’s 400 metres in the third Indian Grand Prix athletics meet at the Nehru Stadium here on Monday.
The 22-year-old beat Arokia Rajiv by one second, as he erased his mark of 45.40 set in Poland last year, a time that helped him qualify for the Rio Olympics.
Like everyone, Anas was surprised by the time and record. He said that the hard work for the past few months back home in Kerala had helped him tune nicely. It is a nice progression in preparation for the Federation Cup and the Asian Championship scheduled over the next two months, before the World Championship in August in London.
It was also not exactly a surprise as Anas had clocked 45.69 in the Asian Grand Prix in Chinese Taipei, after having missed the first two meets in China owing to visa issues. He had clocked 45.89 in the first Indian Grand Prix in Patiala and had skipped the second in Delhi on May 11.
Jisna Mathew, a trainee of P.T. Usha, beat favourite M.R. Poovamma by eight-hundredth of a second with a time of 52.65 in the women’s race. The World Championship qualification standard of 52.10 was too stiff for her.
While Husandeep Singh of Chandigarh won the men’s 100 metres in 10.69 seconds, Dutee Chand could not work up any magic while beating Merlin Joseph with a time of 11.30 seconds in the women’s race.
In the absence of World junior champion Neeraj Chopra, Davinder Singh asserted his ability once again, after having clinched his sport for World Championship in Patiala, by winning the men’s javelin with a 81.53 metres in his fifth throw.
The results: Men: 100m: 1. Husandeep Singh 10.69s, 2. Safikul Mondal 10.76, 3. Mohammed Sadath 10.82. 400m: 1. Muhammad Anas 45.32 (NR, old: 45.40), 2. Arokia Rajiv 46.32, 3. Sachin Roby 47.18. 800m: 1. Ajay Saroj 1:52.91, 2. Arun Kumar 1:53.52, 3. Shashi Singh 1:54.21. 5000m: 1. Md. Yunus 14:50.93, 2. Man Singh 14:51.12, 3. Kalidas Hirve 14:51.76. 110m hurdles: 1. Akhil 14.44, 2. T. Balamurugan 14.58, 3. D. Sreekanth 14.82.
Long jump: 1. M. Sreeshankar 7.65m, 2. M. Silambarasan 7.42, 3. S.P. Laxman 7.33. Triple jump: 1. Arpinder Singh 16.23, 2. Rakesh Babu 15.09. Discus: 1. Baljinder Singh 53.03, 2. Parshant Mori 52.07, 3. Praveen Kumar Nehra 47.52. Shot put: 1. Jasdeep Singh 18.41, 2. Jaspal Singh 16.33. Javelin throw: 1. Davinder Singh Kang 81.53, 2. Vipin Kasana 77.08, 3. Shivpal Singh 74.98.
Women: 100m: 1. Dutee Chand 11.30s, 2. Merlin Joseph 11.72, 3. Himashree Roy 11.95. 400m: 1. Jisna Mathew 52.65, 2. M.R. Poovamma 52.73, 3. Debashree Mazumdar 53.69. 100m hurdles: 1. Purnima Hembram 13.79, 2. Liksy Joseph 14.69, 3. Niksy Joseph 14.83. Long jump: 1. Anjali Sahani 5.11, 2. Shiksha Singh 4.19. Discus: 1. M. Karuniya 41.06, 2. Sonal Goyal 37.97. Javelin throw: 1. Annu Rani 5.41, 2. K. Rashmi 50.65, 3. Priyanka 46.69 .
