With four men vying for two Asian Championship and Asian Games berths, there is pressure building up in the country’s men’s triple jump circuit.
And Abdulla Aboobacker, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, won the gold on the concluding day of the 26 th National Federation Cup Athletics Championships on Thursday to gain a small edge in the close battle.
He was some distance away from his personal best, the impressive 17.19m that came in Bhubaneswar last year, as he topped the field with 16.76m. But he made it clear that the big jumps were just a month away.
“I will try to break the national record (Praveen Chithravel’s 17.37m, which came in Cuba recently) at next month’s Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar,” said the 27-year-old.
“It’s very much possible. Eldhose Paul’s heel is getting better and he and Praveen will be in Bhubaneswar. Then these jumps will change.”
Abdulla, who defeated his friend U. Karthik here, said the conditions were not ideal for good jumping.
“We came here just to qualify for the Asian championship, I had a plan to take the record too. But with the heat around, you feel tired fast, you feel as if your muscles are dried up,” he said.
However, he made the cut for the Asians which will be held in Thailand in July.
Meanwhile, high hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, who seems to be liking the 200m more and more these days, defeated Archana Suseendran, moving past her midway through the home stretch, for the second time this season in just her third try at the event. She had a personal best (23.42s) and made the cut for the Asians too.
“That was a very good time, that too against a minus-2 wind,” said Jyothi.
Long jumper Ancy Sojan also improved her personal best by a centimeter as she took the women’s long jump gold with 6.56m, while Delhi’s Chanda broke Tintu Luka’s seven-year-old meet record in the women’s 800m.
And in men’s javelin, Rohit Yadav upset D.P. Manu to take the title with a personal best of 83.40m.
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