National Inter-University Athletics C’ship: Angel breaks high-jump record

Mangalore University’s Angel P. Devasia broke the women’s high jump record while winning the gold at the 78th National inter-university athletics championship at Mangalagiri on Saturday.

Angel Devasia recorded 1.82m in the women’s high jump.

Four months ago, her training partner Gayathry Sivakumar hit a new high here. And a day after Geo Jose, her fellow-camper in Kochi, took the men’s title, Mangalore University’s Angel P. Devasia broke the women’s high jump record while winning the gold at the 78th National inter-university athletics championship at Mangalagiri on Saturday.

There is something special about Kochi high jumpers, all coached by Railway jumper Manoj T. Thomas, and the Acharya Nagarjuna University’s bouncy blue runway here.

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It was Angel’s turn to fly on Saturday and the 23-year-old raised her personal best by six centimetres to 1.82m after her Mangalore team-mate Abhinaya Shetty, who also hit a life best for the silver, left the stage after 1.75m.

DAY OF UPSETS

Though Asian champion P. U. Chitra won the women’s 1500m comfortably, the final day was packed with suspense and some major upsets too. And Kottayam’s Mahatma Gandhi’s V. K. Vismaya emerged as the star of the day, first jolting international Jisna Mathew in the women’s 200m and then anchoring her university to a surprise gold in the 4x400m relay, shocking big favourite Calicut which had stars like Abitha Mary Manuel and Shaharbana Sidhique, apart from Jisna.

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Vismaya also broke former international Zenia Ayrton’s 15-year-old record in the 200m while Mangalore’s Elakkiya Dasan, who was making a rare appearance in the 200m, broke the 17-year-old record of Anand Natarajan in the men’s event.

“This is unbelievable, one big surprise after another,” said the 20-year-old Vismaya of Assumption College. “But the 400m remains my pet event though I had only a silver there.”

Mangalore University, thriving on Alva’s College which shells out big money to rope in stars from all over the country, retained the overall and men’s title while Mahatma Gandhi kept the women’s team trophy.

• Men
• 200m: V.K. Elakkiya Dasan (Mangalore) 20.92s MR, OR 21.30. 1500m: Sache Lal Patel (Punjabi) 3:50.79s MR, OR 3:51.69. 4x400m relay: Mangalore 3:10.17s MR, OR 3:13.40. Triple jump: K. Kamalraj (Bharathiar, Cbe) 15.88m. Half marathon: Ranjeeth Kumar (Mangalore) 1:07.33s. Hammer throw: Taranveer Singh (Punjabi) 61.01m.
• Women
• 200m: V.K. Vismaya (MG, Ktm) 23.90s MR, OR 24.00. 1500m: P.U. Chitra (Calicut) 4:24.87s MR, OR 4:26.23. 4x400m relay: Mahatma Gandhi, Ktm 3:40.21s MR, OR 3:40.90. High jump: Angel P. Devasia (Mangalore) 1.82m MR, OR 1.78. Hammer throw: K.M. Ritu Dhiman (Mangalore) 53.56s. 5000m race walk: Priyanka (Punjabi) 22:55.39s. Half marathon: Varsha Devi (Kurukshetra) 1:19.53s. Heptathlon: Abhakhatua (Vidyasagar, Medinipur) 4822 pts.
• Championships
• Overall: 1. Mangalore (177 pts), 2. Mahatma Gandhi, Ktm (111.5), 3. Calicut (89). Team: Men: Mangalore (116 pts). Women: Mahatma Gandhi, Ktm (75.5).
• Best athletes: Amoj Jacob (Delhi, men). Jisna Mathew (Calicut, women).