The men’s triple jump was expected to be the only exciting event at the third Indian Grand Prix on Saturday and it lived up to the billing with two new entrants to the 17-metre club and a World Championships qualifier to boot.
Abdulla Aboobacker was among those on the verge of making the cut and the youngster duly delivered. Aboobacker’s fifth jump was an impressive 17.19m, clearing the Worlds qualifying mark of 17.14m. He knew he had done it the moment the white flag was raised, signalling a fair jump. Mission accomplished, the elated 26-year old skipped his final jump. Aboobacker’s previous best was 16.84m and he had a wind-assisted 16.81 this year but Saturday’s attempt made him one of only four Indian men to cross the 17-metre mark.
The fourth member was his Kerala statemate and competitor Karthik Unnikrishnan, who kept pushing himself before managing a 17.10m jump in his final attempt. It was enough to put him in elite company but fell agonisingly short by four centimetres of the Worlds qualifying
mark. The performance, however, would have given Karthik the belief of making the cut at the Inter-State meet next month. Renjith Maheshwary and Arpinder Singh are the other two in the 17m club.
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In the absence of leading athletes, the remaining events were less than impressive with many having only the bare minimum number of competitors. Women’s Hammer Throw, 100m Hurdles and Men’s Pole Vault all had just three participants while the women’s High Jump had just two.
In the absence of Kamalpreet Kaur, Navjeet Kaur Dhillon regained the top spot with a throw of 58.03m in discus while Seema Punia managed just over 55m. Among the sprinters Srabani Nanda, participating in an event at home after almost four years, did not exert herself to win the 200m albeit in a less-than-stellar 24.04 seconds.
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