Nirmala stole the show for Haryana as she scorched a worn out track for a stunning timing of 51.28 seconds in clinching the women’s 400 metres gold ahead of M. R. Poovamma, as the curtains came down on the 21st Federation Cup athletics championships at the Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports Complex here on Sunday.
It was a day when Annu Rani improved the conviction of coach Kashinath Naik about his ability to mould javelin throwers to longer distance with a national record 61.86 metres. However, headlines were stolen by Nirmala who shook everyone by outclassing a strong field (though without Jauna Murmu who was disqualified for a false start).
Nirmala comfortably came under the World Championship qualifying time of 52.50 seconds to ensure her ticket to London, even though it may not be so much sought because of the current scenario of insecurity.
K. M. Beenamol’s record of 51.81 set in 2002 in Chennai fell easily, and Nirmala announced that she was eyeing the national record of 51.05 set by Manjit Kaur, also in Chennai, in 2004. The Asian Championship in Bhubaneswar next month, on a good track, may encourage Nirmala to be at her best.
Annu Rani improved on her own mark of 60.01 set in Lucknow last year, with her first throw of 61.86 metres. However, she followed up with 60.58, 58.83 and 59.44 throws, with two attempts ending as ‘no mark’.
Dutee Chand wins women’s 100m
Dutee Chand won the women’s 100 metres on expected lines, ahead of the 200 metres winner Srabani Nanda, thanks to her burst of speed. Coach Ramesh felt that Dutee could possibly improve on her national record of 11.30 set last month in Delhi, in favourable conditions. The young Amiya Kumar Mallick of Delhi won the men’s 100 metres at 10.51 seconds.
It was a commendable fare from G. Lakshmanan and L. Suriya of Tamil Nadu as they added the 10,000 metres gold to the 5,000 metres they had won earlier. There was more cheer for Tamil Nadu, as Prem Kumar, Suresh and T. Balamurugan swept the medals. Nayana James was impressive in winning the women’s 100-metre hurdles to add to her gold in long jump.
Amoj Jacob kept Arikia Rajiv and Sachin Roby in the silver and bronze spots in the men’s 400-metre sprint, in the absence of Muhammed Anas, who had done the same in the Indian Grand Prix. Jinson Johnson and P. U. Chitra won the men’s and women’s 1500 metres respectively, while Swapna Barman won the women’s heptathlon with a total of 5897 points.
The results:
Men
100m: 1. Amiya Kumar Mallick 10.51; 2. Jyotisankar Debnath 10.57; 3. Anuroop John 10.60.
400m: 1. Amoj Jacob 46.26; 2. Arokia Rajiv 46.64; 3. Sachin Roby 46.87.
1500m: 1. Jinson Johnson 3:48.49; 2. Ajay Kumar Saroj 3:48.91; 3. Siddhanta Adhikari 3:50.84.
10000m: 1. G. Lakshmanan 29:23.46; 2. Gopi Thonakal 29:55.67; 3. Kalidas Hirave 29:57.94.
110m hurdles: 1. Prem Kumar 14.34; 2. Suresh 14.35; 3. T. Balamurugan 14.52.
Triple jump: 1. Arpinder Singh 16.75; 2. U. Karthik 16.37; 3. Malkit Singh 16.30.
Hammer throw: 1. Niraj Kumar 66.09; 2. Sukhdev Singh 64.06; 3. Bajinder Singh Baj 63.35
Women
100m: 1. Dutee Chand 11.48; 2. Srabani Nanda 11.57; 3. Merlin Joseph 11.68.
400m: 1. Nirmala 51.28 (NMR, old 51.81, KM Beenamol, Chennai, 2002); 2. MR Poovamma 52.70; 3. Debashree Mazumdar 53.59.
1500m: 1. P. U. Chitra 4:26.48; 2. Monika Choudhary 4:27.67; 3. Pramila Yadav 4:27.90.
10000m: 1. L. Suriya 33:12.67; 2. Sanjivani Jadhav 33:15.77; 3. Meenu 34:17.11.
100m hurdles: 1. Nayana James 13.96; 2. Ankita Gosavi 14.00; 3. Prajna Prakash 14.03.
Discus throw: 1. Kamalpreet Kaur Bal 54.33; 2. Seema Punia 53.86; 3. Himani Singh 53.24.
Javelin throw: 1. Annu Rani 61.86 (NR, old 60.01, Annu Rani, Lucknow, 2016); 2. Poonam Rani Singh 55.79; 3. Suman Devi 55.03.
Heptathlon: 1. Swapna Barman 5897; 2. Purnima Hembram 5632; 3. Liksy Joseph 5476.
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