Double for Anil, Rachita and Gulab

The concluding day of the Indianoil-Servo inter-State athletics meet at the Nehru stadium on Monday turned out to be action-filled one. Bengal girl Soma Biswas’ tally of 6186 points in the heptathlon almost mocked at the existing record of GG Pramila (5705) in Calcutta two years ago.

Anil Kumar’s timing of 20.80 was a new National record. His effort, knocked off 0.24s the existing record held by Ajay Raj Singh in last year’s Lucknow meet.

The women’s 4×400 metres relay quartet of Manjuma Kuriakose, Jincy Phillip, Paramjit Kaur and Beenamol made it a double delight sinking the Asian Track & Field meet record and also the Asian Games record. The timing of 3:28.11 erased the existing mark of 3:32.73 set by China (’95 ATF meet at Jakarta) and the Asian Games mark of 3:29.11 (China ’94 Hiroshima Games). Needless to add, the record is to be ratified.

Jagdish Bisnoi came tantalisingly close to upstage the National record in the men’s javelin. His effort of 79.67m was a meet record but fell short of the National record held by Satvir Singh (79.68).

Pitted on lane 4, Rachita’s only threat looked to come from Delhi girl Vinita Tripathi from the adjacent lane. So smooth was Rachita’s take-off that she was already in top gear even before the 50-metre mark. Once she negotiated the bend with nonchalance, Rachita was unstoppable to better her own meet record.

The mother of a two-year-old girl ranked the performance as her best. “Having won the 100, the pressure was off. I said to myself to enjoy the race and it paid off,” she let the cat out of the bag.

The men’s 200m final was an absorbing one. Not many may given Punjab’s Ajay Raj Singh a ghost of a chance. But one must hand it over to Ajay for being in the fight till the 150-metre mark. Till that juncture, Anil and Ajay were rubbing shoulder to shoulder.

Anil came up with that champion stuff in the crunch. As in the past, he came up with that extra in the final burst. The thin line of difference was worth its weight in gold for Anil. Karnataka’s Clifford was a distant third.

There was some cheer in the Tamil Nadu camp when Visagamani won the first and only gold in the men’s 400m hurdles. With no comeptition forthcoming, Visagamani was a runaway winner clocking 52.53. “In the trials I had hit 51s but somehow could not motivate myself with none to push me,” said the gentle mannered runner.

No less impressive was the effort of Jalandhar girl Spinder Kaur, timing 58.68 in the women’s 400m hurdles. The plus two student, having struck gold (400m & 400m hurdles) in the National junior meet at Salem this year was on a song the moment she crossed the first hurdle. In her first year in senior category, the effort was her personal best. Nisha Mol’s challenge faded away a little too soon than she may have hoped for.
Results – Men: 400m hurdles: 1. P Visagamani (TN) 52.53s, 2. A R Rafeeq (Ker) 52.94, 3. Ravindra Mahamoni (Mah) 53.65; 5000M: 1. Gulab Chand (UP) 14:07.9, 2. N Gojen Singh (Manipur) 14:14.2, 3. Bahadur Singh (MP) 14:15.0; Pole vault: 1. Jeetendra Kumar (UP) 4.60M, 2. V V Girish Kumar (Ker) 4.40M, 3. Satpal Singh (Bihar-B) 4.10; Discus: 1. Anil Kumar (Har) 59.70M (meet record), 2. Shakti Singh (Har) 57.78 M, 3. Ajit Bhaduria (Bih-A) 56.33; 200M: Anil Kumar (Ker) 20.80s (meet record), 2. Ajay Raj Singh (Pun) 21.03, 3. J Clifford (Kar) 21.69; 800M: K M Binu (Bih) 1:48:54 (meet record), 2. P S Primesu (Ker) 1:49.22, 3. B Marandi (Ben) 1:50.030; 4 X 400M relay: 1. AAFI (Lijo David Thottan, Ramachandran, Jata Shankar, Paramjeet Singh) 3:02.88 (meet record), 2. Kerala, 3. Tamil Nadu; High jump: 1. Arumuga Pillai (TN) 2.12M, 2. K R Roshan (Ker) 2.12M, 3. Santosh Kumar (Ker) 2.090; 3000M steeplechase: 1. Verghese (Ker) 9:15.43, 2. Rajnath (UP) 9:16.87, 3.Sanjai Kumar (Ker) 9:27.59; Javelin: Jagdish Bishnoi (Pun) 79:67M, 2. Sunil Kumar (Dli) 73.17, 3. Brahma Dubey (Mah) 72.32.
Women: 200M: 1. Rachita Mistry (Mah) 23.10s (meet record), 2. Vinitha Tripathi (Dli) 23.48, 3. M K Samanthagam (TN) 24.26; 5000M: Pushpa Devi (Dli) 16:18.5, 2. L Aruna Devi (Ben) 16:22.7, 3. Sunita (Dli) 16:55.7; 10000M walk: Paramjit Kaur (Pun) 51:29.8, 2. Y Baladevi (Ben) 51:48.8, 3. Simy Mathew (Ker) 57:12.9; 400M hurdles: 1. Spinder Kaur (Pun) 58.68s, 2. Nisha Mol (Ker) 59.73, 3. Sene Banioram (Ori) 1:00:30; Shot put: Harwant Kaur (Dli) 14.76M, 2. Surinderjeet Kaur (Pun) 14,63, 3. N Latha (TN) 14.48; Triple jump: Manisha Dey (Ben) 13.18M, 2. Bobby Aloysius (Ker) 12.68, 3. M Anusuya C Roy (TN) 12.39; Heptathlon: Soma Biswas (Ben) 6186 pts (Natl record); 2. GG Pramila (Kar) 6105 pts (Natl Record), 3. B B Ashike ( Dli) 4648 pts; 4X400M relay: 1. AAFI (Manjuma Kuriakose, Jincy Phillip, Paramjit Kaur, Beenamol) 3:41.83, 2. Tamil Nadu 3:41.83, 3 Kerala 3:42.28.