Jabeshwari, Pramila crack records

Chennai, Sept 6: K Jabeshwari Devi of Eastern Railway and G G Pramila of Southern Railway kept their names intact in the record books, be...

Chennai, Sept 6: K Jabeshwari Devi of Eastern Railway and G G Pramila of Southern Railway kept their names intact in the record books, bettering their own performances, as just two records were set on the inaugural day of the Inter-Railway Athletic Meet at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday.

Jabeshwari Devi’s effort in the hammer throw was praiseworthy, for her fifth throw bettered her own meet record (48.60m) set last year, by nearly five metres. Second-placed Vardha Venkat (Central Railway) was behind by more than four metres. Incidentally, Jabeswari is the present National record-holder having cleared 55.62 metres in the recently concluded Federation Cup at Bangalore.

G G Pramila, who is the present heptathlon National champion, seems set to take home a bagful of medals. With her pet event yet to start, she already has a gold (long jump) and a silver (100m hurdles). In long jump, she set a new meet record, clearing 6.24 metres in her third attempt. The old mark of 6.16 set last year also stood inher name.

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In the race for the fastest man of the meet, it was sweet revenge for Thirugnandurai of Southern Railway. A perfect take off and the extra power he could pump in the last 20 metres enabled him to pip Anand Menezes at the post. Thirugnandurai had lost to Menezes at the Federation Cup last month.

Shakti Singh of the Northern Railway, the National shot put champion, claimed the gold with a distance of 18.82 metres. An effort that got him close to the meet record but far below his National mark. Gulab Chand of Northern Railway, who is likely to make a clean sweep of the middle and long distance running, clinched the 5000m gold with a timing of 14:25.4 seconds.

WITHHELD: The absence of a photo finish camera forced the organisers to withhold the result of the 800m for men. Manoj Lal of Southern Railway and Anil Mathew of Western Railway clocked the same (01:50.0s) at the finish by the men with manual timing. The technical committee has decided to go through the video clipping and then announce theresults on Wednesday.

The competition lost its sheen as most of the reputed athletes are attending a 20-day training camp in Russia, following the Amateur Athletics Federation of India’s last minute decision to that effect. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, Sunita Rani (middle and long distance), Bahadur Singh (shot put) and Sanjay Kumar Rai (long jump) were the notable absentees.

Results

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MEN: 100m Thirugnanadurai (Southern Railway) 10.5s, Anand Menezes (Central Railway), P Narendranath (SER); Shot put: Shakti Singh (NR) 18.82m, Autar Singh (NR), Lakhwinder Singh (DCW); 110m hurdles: PT Yesudhos (SR) 14.4s, John Selvakumar (ICF), N Ravichandran (SR); 5000m: Gulab Chand (NR) 14:25.4s, Sivanand (SCR), B S Lone (WR).

WOMEN: Hammer throw: K Jabeshwari Devi (ER) 53.91s NMR (OMR 48.60), Vardha Venkat (CR), Padma (SR); 10,000m: Molly Biju (WR) 35:30:2s, L Aruna Devi (ER), Ronadas (ER); 200m: P T Usha (SR) 23.7s, Pandeeswari (SR), Saraswathy Dev (ER); Javelin: Manisha Mondal (SER) 47.92m, Hemalatha (SR), H IndubalaDevi (ER); 100m Hurdles: Debi Bose (ER) 13.8s, Pramila (SR), Soma Biswas (ER); 800m: Rosa Kutty (SR) 02:06.2s, K M Bennamol (SR), Vasuda Mole (CR); Long Jump: G G Pramila (SR) 6.24m NMR (OMR 6.16), Tapasi Baur (ER), J J Shoba (SCR).