For 37 long years, Gopal Saini’s 3000m steeplechase National record stood tall. Now, it has been broken twice in less than a year, and Avinash Sable can stake claim to being the best in India by quite a margin.
The 24-year old Armyman bettered his own previous best by clocking eight minutes, 28.94seconds as the 23rd Federation Cup ended on a high — as far as the AFI is concerned — on Monday.
It was the first time anyone in India has run under 8:29.00 – just like Sable was also the first to run under 8:30.00 last year – and was good enough to make the cut for not only the Asian Championships but the World Championships as well.
Also overcoming two years of frustration and less than satisfactory performances was Arokia Rajiv, qualifying for the Asian meet with his first sub-46sec run in almost a year. That he beat National record holder Muhammed Anas in the 400m was a bonus — the country’s premier quartermiler hadn’t beaten Anas for the last two years.
Jinson Johnson was also not at his best but still good enough to win by more than two seconds in the 1500m and achieve the Asian qualifying mark. In fact, the top three all made the cut and, with Manjit Singh already achieving the mark in the Grand Prix earlier, the AFI will have to choose its entries. Manjit pulled out in the first lap itself here.
It was, however, a disappointing outing in the women’s track competitions with both Dutee Chand (100m) and Hima Das (400m) failing to make the cut. While Dutee narrowly missed by .05 seconds, Hima was satisfied with her progression through the season so far, managing to go under 53 seconds here.
The results: Men: 100m: 1. Gurindervir Singh 10.35s, 2. Harjit Singh 10.48, 3. Siva Kumar 10.50; 400m: 1. Arokia Rajiv 45.73s, 2. Muhd. Anas Yahiya 45.89, 3. Kunhu Mohd. 46.47; 1500m: 1. Jinson Johnson 3:41.67s, 2. Ajay Kumar Saroj 3:43.57, 3. Rahul 3:44.94; 110m hurdles: 1. Surendra Jayakumar 14.06s, 2. Mohd. Fais C 14.18, 3. Suresh Kumar 14.34; 3000m steeplechase: 1. Avinash Sable 8:28.94s, 2. Shankar Lal Swami 8:34.66, 3. Durga Bahadur Budha 8:46.09; Long jump: 1. Muhd. Anees Yahiya 7.50m, 2. Athistam K 7.46, 3. Siddharth Naik 7.34; hammer throw: 1. Taranveer Singh 64.37m, 2. Gurkirat Singh 60.02, 3. Amar Singh Rana 59.31.
Women: 100m: 1. Dutee Chand 11.45s, 2. Archana Suseendran 11.72, 3. Ranga K 11.75; 400m: 1. Hima Das 52.88s, 2. M.R. Poovamma 53.15, 3. Saritaben Gayakwad 53.28; 1500m: 1. Gomathi Marimuthu 4:23.62s, 2. Lili Das 4:23.84, 3. P.U. Chitra 4:24.05; 100m hurdles: 1. S. Pushpanjali 13.88s, 2. Elezabeth Antony 13.96, 3. R. Nithya 14.02; shot put: 1. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon 15.28m, 2. Abha Khatua 14.96, 3. Tunlai Narzary 14.82.
3000m steeplechase: 1. Parul Chaudhary 10:10.31s, 2. Chinta Yadav 10:12.16, 3. Priti Lamba 10:12.59; heptathlon: 1. Swapna Barman 5901 pts., 2. Purnima Hembram 5597, 3. M. Sowmiya 5292 .
