Arokia Rajiv enlivened the proceedings with a National record in the men’s 400 metres with a time of 45.47 seconds, but could not hide his disappointment at missing the Olympic qualification mark narrowly on the second day of the 20th Federation Cup athletics championships at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday.
“I was confident of achieving the Olympic qualification mark (45.40 seconds). I was a bit tight in the end,” said Rajiv.
The 24-year-old Rajiv said he was happy to have broken the long-standing National record of 45.48, clocked by K.M. Binu in the Athens Olympics.
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“The aim was to qualify for the Olympics. National record would have been automatic. Yes, it gives me happiness that the record is in my name now,” said Rajiv, who had trained in Turkey for three months with coach Muhammed Kunhu and foreign expert Yuriy Ogorodnik.
“We have been training in Poland, followed by competitions in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Belgium. I am confident that we will qualify for the Olympics,” said Kunhu.
Sudha qualifiesADVERTISEMENT
In the evening, under lights, Lalita Babbar bettered her own National record by a fraction of a second in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, and in the process helped Asian Games gold medallist Sudha Singh (9:31.86) make it to the Rio Games.
Since Lalita had already qualified for the Olympics, Sudha was keen to capitalise on this chance to qualify in a track event, even though she had qualified in marathon. Coach Nikolai Snesarev said that with such timings, it would not be possible to even make the finals in the Olympics.
In the women’s 1500m, O.P. Jaisha’s attempt to qualify for the Olympics did not fructify, even though she outclassed the field by nearly 100 metres.
Jaisha, who has qualified for the Olympics in marathon, clocked 4 minutes 18.69 seconds. Snesarev said there was enough time for Jaisha to reach the qualification mark of 4:07.00.
Anilda Thomas continued to push M.R. Poovamma to the second spot in the women’s 400 metres, and clocked her personal best of 52.40 seconds, as the qualification mark eluded by 0.20 seconds.
The results:
Men: 400m: 1. Arokia Rajiv (TN) 45.47 (NR, OR: 45.48); 2. Muhammed Anas (Ker) 45.75; 3. Kunhu Muhammed (Army) 46.08. 1500m: 1. Ajay Kumar Saroha (ONGC) 3:44.60; 2. Sandeep Singh (Har) 3:45.86; 3. Rahul Harveer (Del) 3:46.07. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Naveen Kumar (Har) 8:55.04; 2. Durga Bahadur Budha (Man) 9:01.91; 3. Sachin Patil (Mah) 9:12.99. Long jump: 1. Kumaravel Premkumar (Rlys) 7.88; 2. Ankit Sharma (Har) 7.76; 3. S.E. Samsheer (Kar) 7.62. Decathlon: 1. Narender (Har) 7049; 2. Jagtar Dhillon (Raj) 6860; 3. Muhammed Hafse (Ker) 6853. Hammer throw: 1. Niraj Kumar (Raj) 68.46 (NMR, OR: 67.84), 2. Sukhdev Singh (Har) 65.60; 3. Gurjohar Singh (BSF) 61.83. Women: 400m: 1. Anilda Thomas (Ker) 52.40; 2. MR Poovamma (ONGC) 52.60; 3. Jauna Murmu (ONGC) 53.37. 1500m: 1. O.P. Jaisha (Ker) 4:18.69; 2. PU Chitra (Ker) 4:29.17; 3. Adesh Kumari (Har) 4:30.58. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Lalita Babbar (Mah) 9:27.09 (NR, OR: 9:27.86); 2. Sudha Singh (UP) 9:31.86; 3. Parul Chaudhary (UP) 10:47.49. High jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Kar) 1.80; 2. Angel Devasia (Ker) 1.73; 3. KC Chandana (Kar) 1.73. Discus: 1. Krishna Poonia (Har) 55.09; 2. Sandeep Kumari (Har) 54.93; 3. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 53.65.