Grand triple for Sinimol, Renjith

With Anju deciding to have a go at the target once again with a last-minute decision to take part in the National Combined Events and Jumps Championships competition to be held at the same venue on Thursday and Friday, it only seemed that her “not getting the rhythm in the last three to four steps,” reasoning needed time and opportunities to get sorted out.

For Anju, barring the first jump, the rest varied between 5.95 m to 6.20 m. “I need a couple of jumps more to get going,” she explained refusing to say she was disappointed. With intermittent drizzle being a hindrance, both Anju and triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary felt that “it was not the ideal weather to give of their best and also blamed the short run up.”

Renjith managed 16.78 meter second jump effort to have the distinction of being one of the two Indian athletes to finish with a grand triple along with metric-miler Sinimol Paulose.

If Renjith was feeling low, 24-year-old Sinimol, who looks up to PT Usha and Shiny Wilson, dedicated her effort to her parents and coach. Sinimol’s 4:14.56s effort thus made her the only Indian athlete who has produced erratic performances. In Bangkok she did 4:12.61s, and 4:15.53s in Guwahati, which she reasoned as “I am not at my best right now”.

In fact, the 1,500m run produced one of India’s two 1-2 performances after Sushma followed Sinimol home. The other event with a gold-silver Indian finish was the men’s 3000m where in Surendra Singh beat Sunil Kumar in the slowest race both have battled in the series so far. The best efort came from a field event through Saurabh Vij. Way below his 18.33 meters season and personal best, the 20-year-old Delhiite managed 18.51m and thus shirked off his 17-something efforts that fetched him bronze and silver respectively earlier.

While Vij was a new incumbent in the list of gold medalists, Joseph Abraham set the early pace in the one-lap event with yet another sub 50s run. Clocking 49.86s he made full use of Chinese Meng Yan’s inability to complete the race and streaked ahead of Yevgeniy Meleshenko (Kazakhstan) to finish 0.08s ahead. Kuldev Singh came third.

RESULTS

Men: 100m: Liang Jia Hong (Chn; 10.38s), Sittichai Suwonprateep (Thai; 10.52s), Wachara Sondee (Thai; 10.55s); 400m: Wang Liangyu (Chn; 46.22s), Reza Bouazar (Irn; 46.60s), Prasanna Amarasekara (SL; 46.61s); 1,500m: Sajad Moradi (Irn; 3:41.14s), Hamza Chatholi (Ind; 3:44.21s), Joseph Sajeesh (Ind; 3:44.42s); 3000m: Surendra Singh (Ind; 8:01.86s), Sunil Kumar (Ind; 8:02.02s), Amirov (Tjk; 8:16.42s); 4x100m relay: China 39.773s, Thailand 39.779s, India 40.53; 4x400m relay: Sri Lanka 3:07.31s, India 3:08.86, India ‘B’ 3:10.13s; 400m hurdles: Joseph Abraham (Ind; 49.86s), Yevgeniy Meleshenko (Kaz; 49.94s), Kuldev Singh (Ind; 50.94s); Triple Jump: Renjith Maheshwary (Ind;16.78m), Roman Valiyev (Kaz; 16.62m), Binu Mathew (Ind; 16.54m); High Jump: Kim Young-Min (Kor; 2.15m), Hari Shankar Roy (Ind; 2.15m), Sergey Zassimovich (Kaz; 2.10m); Shot put: Saurabh Vij (Ind; 18.51m), Gholum Ahmed (Kuw; 18.38m), Polyemg Chatchawal (Tha; 17.46m); Discus: Samimi Abbas (Irn; 61.86m), Vikas Gowda (Ind; 59.96m), Wu Tao (Chn; 56.73s).

Women: 100m: Susanthika Jayasinghe (SL; 11.34s), Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb; 11.43s), Vu Thi Huong (Viet; 11.54s); 400m: Chitra K Soman (Ind; 53.19s); Marina Maslyonko (Kaz; 53.77s), Olga Tereshkova (Kaz; 54.11s); 1,500m: Sinimol Poulose (Ind; 4:16.56s); Sushma (Ind; 4:22.58s), Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz; 4:24.33s); 4x100m relay: Thailand 44.0s, China 44.07, Singapore 47.53s; 4x400m relay: China 3 mins, 32.56 secs, India 3:33.79, Kazakhstan 3:42.07; 100m hurdles: Anastasiya Vinogradova (Kaz; 13.22s), Natalya Ivaniskaya (Kaz; 13.45s), Sheena Atilano (Phi; 13.65s); Long Jump: Anju Bobby George (Ind; 6.21m), M H Prashusha (Ind; 5.76m), Sushmita Singha Roy (Ind; 5.72m); High Jump: Marina Aitova (Kaz; 1.93m), Nadezhda Dusanova (Uzb; 1.91m), Bui Thi Nhung (Viet; 1.85m); Triple Jump: Xie Limei (Chn; 13.95m), Li Qian (Chn; 13.56m), Sardi Rakhima (Kgz; 13.48m); Javelin: Pamang Buoban (Tha; 54.89m), Xue Juan (Chn; 51.71m), Liliya Dusmetova (Uzb; 49.70s); Shot Put: Li Ling (Chn; 18.15m), Lin Chia-Ying (TPE; 16.36m), Lee Mi-Young (Kor; 16.29s).