Olympians Sahana Kumari of Karnataka and Tintu Luka of Kerala won their respective events while Tamil Nadu long jumper Prem Kumar set a new meet record on the second day of the 53rd National Inter-State Senior Athletic Championships on Wednesday. Prem Kumar cleared 8m in his fifth and final jump to set a new meet record. Arshad of Karnataka (7.85m) was second while Ankit Sharma of Madhya Pradesh was third with 7.67m.
Favourite Luka,watched by her mentor P T Usha,won the womens 800m race in 2:04.14s. She led all through the race and finished three seconds ahead of Gomathi of Tamil Nadu (2:07.33s). Haryanas Sushma Devi (2:07.95s) was third.
Thirty-two-year-old Sahana was the main attraction in the high jump event,which she won with an effort of 1.88m. She,however,couldnt match her own personal best of 1.92m,which is also the national record. Mallika Mondal of Bengal (1.74m) and ND Tintu of Kerala (1.68m) won the silver and bronze medals respectively. Coming back from an injury after two years,local girl G Gayathry brought cheer to the home state with gold in the 100m hurdles,while Keralas Pinto Mathew bagged her maiden title at senior level when he clinched gold in a tight race in the mens 110m hurdles.
Results: Men: 400m: 1. Kunhu Mohammad (Ker) 46.71s,2. Neeraj Pawar (UP) 46.97s,3. Rajiv Arokia (TN) 47.08s; 800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Ker) 1:49.04s,2. Manjit Singh (Har) 1:49.11s,3. Francis Sahayam (TN) 1:49.77s; 110m hurdles: 1. Pinto Mathew (Ker) 14.56s,2. Balamurugan (TN) 14.76s,3. Sadeep Parmar (Mah) 14.82s; Long jump: 1. Prem Kumar (TN) 8.00m,2. Arshad (Kar) 7.85m,3. Ankit Sharma (MP) 7.67m; Decathlon: 1. Bharatainder Singh (Har) 6963 pts,2. Daya Ram (Raj) 6925 pts,3. Kumbhar K Dilip (Mah) 6831pts; Shot put: 1. Inderjeet Singh (Har) 18.92m,2. Ashwani Solanki (Del) 18.35m,3. Tejinderpal Singh (Pun) 18.30m; Javelin: 1. Krishna Kumar (UP) 74.80m,2. Samarjeet Singh (Raj) 73.16m,3. Rajender Singh (Har) 72.96m.
Women: 400m: 1. Poovamma (Kar) 52.85s,2. Nirmala (Har) 53.94s,3. Anu Mariam Joseph (Ker) 54.59s; 800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Ker) 2.04.14s,2. Gomathi (TN) 2:07.33s,3. Sushma Devi (Har) 2:07.95s; 100m hurdles: 1. G Gayathry (TN) 13.97s,2. J Hamashree (TN) 14.04s,3. KV Sajitha (Ker) 14.33s; High jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Kar) 1.88m,2. Mallika Mondal (Ben) 1.74m,3. ND Tintu (Ker) 1.68m; Shot put: 1. Udaya Laxmi (AP) 13.68m,2. Neha Singh (MP) 13.56m,3. Navjit Kaur (Pun) 13.49m.