The last event of the Junior Federation Cup athletics meet, held under fading or rather dim lights, at the Nehru Stadium here on Friday, saw a memorable performance from Odisha’s Dutee Chand.
The 18-year-old ran a wonderful race to emerge a comfortable winner in the girls’ 100m with a remarkable time of 11.63s and erased the listed national junior record of 11.75s held by Saraswati Dey since 1996. Moreover, Dutee qualified for the Asian and World Championships.
A 200m bronze medallist in the senior Asian championships at Pune last year, the fast-improving sprinter simply outclassed the field.
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Tamil Nadu’s Archana Suseendran finished a distant second in 12.14s.
Shot putter Navtejdeep Singh of Punjab, too hogged the limelight with an impeccable show in boys’ shot put. The 18-year-old heaved the 6kg iron ball to a distance of 18.56m thereby earning a spot in the Asian and World Championships.
Shakti Solanki of Delhi finished second (17.93m) to qualify for the Asian championship. Malkeet Singh, finished third with a heave of 17.38m.
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Pinki upset the fancied Kerala runner P.U. Chitra to win the girls’ 1500m event in 4 minutes 27.26 secs. Her time was well within the world junior standard of 4:28.00, but was half-a-second slower than the Asian junior bronze medal grade!
The results:
Boys: 1500m: 1. Afsal Mohammaed (Ker) 3:52.44s, 2. Ajay Kumar (Asm) 3:52.60, 3. Shashi Bhushan (WB) 3:52.65; 100m: 1. Soumyadeep Saha (WB) 10.99, 2. Chandrakant (Mah) 11.20, 3. Vamshi Praveen (AP) 11.25.
Shot put: 1. Navtejdeep Singh (Pun) 18.56m (Asian Qualifying Mark (17.39) & World mark (18.25)), 2. Shakti Solanki (Del) 17.93, 3. Malkeet Singh (Pun) 17.38;
Javelin: 1. Sarbjeet Singh (Pun) 71.07m, 2. Birendra Kumar (Guj) 70.09, 3. Parvinder Kumar (Har) 69.06; High jump: 1. Sreenith Mohan (Ker) 2.11m, 2. Rahul (Har) 2.07, 3. Ajay Kumar (Har) 2.04; 5000m: 1. Sharwan Kharb (Har) 14:54.51 (AQM 14:58.23), 2. Jatinder Kumar (Pun) 14:55.24, 3. Abhishek Paul (Asm)14:56.23.
Girls: 1500m: 1. Pinki (Har) 4:27.26 (NR, Old: Geeta Manral 4:27.40, world junior qualifying mark (4:28.00)), 2. P.U. Chitra (Ker) 4:30.19, 3. Preeti Lamba (Del) 4:35.70; 100m: 1. Dutee Chand (Odi) 11.63s (NR, Old: Sarawati Dey 11.75, Asian junior (12.17) & World (11.90)), 2. S. Archana (TN) 12.14, 3. Himashree Roy (WB) 12.20; Long jump: 1. Bhumika Thakur (Pun) 5.94m, 2. Bhai Rabi Roy (WB) 5.75, 3. G. Karthika (TN) 5.74; Javelin: 1. Kumari Sharmila (Har) 47.07, 2. C.K. Prajitha (Ker) 41.86, 3. Damayanti Murmu (Odi) 36.15; 5000m: Sanjivani Jadhav (Mah) 17:11.27 (NMR, Old: 17:30.48), 2. Neha (MP) 17:46.43, 3. Janabhai Hirve (Mah) 18:07.58.