Renjith Maheswary of Kerala may have won the gold in the men’s triple jump with an effort of 16.56 m but he was disappointed at not meeting the Olympic qualifying mark of 16.85 m on the second day of the 56th National inter-state athletics meet at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Wednesday.
For someone who was the focus of attention in the first final of the evening under overcast conditions, the 30-year-old Renjith, winner of 2010 Commonwealth Games gold (17.07 m), was well below par this evening.
“This is not my day. It is as simple as that. Well, may be, if my competitor and national record holder Arpinder Singh (17.17 m) put up a better performance (he did not figure in the top three today) that would have spurred me to achieve a better mark,” remarked a dejected Renjith later on even while mentioning that the weather was not conducive to him. “Now, my focus shifts to either Thailand or Almaty for one last chance to go to Rio,” he added.
The other athlete who could have been the biggest star of the evening but missed the qualifying mark by a whisker – 0.43 sec – was the 25-year-old Jinson Johnson of Kerala who set a new Meet record with his effort of 1.46.43 in the 800 m but missed the Rio Olympics qualifying mark (1.46.00).
Like Renjith, Johnson too found fault with the weather which he felt was not ideal for him. In fact, there heavy rains the city through the day but to the delight of the organisers they stopped just before the finals this evening.
One of the major surprises of the evening was when Purnima Hembra of Odisha clinched the gold in the 400 m women’s hurdles with a timing of 59.27 sec.
“This is immensely satisfying for this is my first-ever competition in this event ever since I started training for the hurdles about two months ago,” the 23-year-old Purnima pointed out.
And, like Renjith, Purnima too is keen to book the berth to Rio by trying one last time in Thailand meet soon.
Niraj Kumar of Rajasthan set a new National record in the men’s hammer throw with an effort of 70.73 m eclipising the previous mark — of 70.16 set by Rakesh Kumar Yadav in Bengaluru 2003
Earlier in the morning, 26-year-old B. Soumya of Delhi won the 20 km walk with a timing of 1 hour 42 min 55.24 sec, beating her previous best by nine minutes.
On Tuesday night, 20-year-old Tamil Nadu’s Subramaniam Siva, the reigning national junior champion, clinched the honours in men’s pole vault with an effort of 4.90 m. A feat which also meant Siva becoming the third from Tamil Nadu to win men’s pole vault after A. Ramachandran in 1963 and M.A. Eldo in 1997, according to official media release.
The results: Men: 800 m: 1. Jinson Johnson (Ker) 1:46.43, 2. Manjith Singh (Pjb) 1:48.61, 3. K.A. Bharath (Kar) 1:50.10.
Triple jump: 1. Renjith Maheswary (Ker) 16.56 m, 2. A.V. Rakesh Babu (Ker) 16.20 m, 3. Bheeshm Singh (Mnp) 16.16 m.
Shotput: 1. Inderjeet Singh (Har) 19.28 m, 2. Tajinderpal Singh (Pjb) 19.21 m, 3. Jasdeep Singh (Pjb) 18.48 m.
Steeplechase: 1. Naveen (Har) 8:44.33, 2. B. Ramesh Kumar (Maha) 8:56.17, 3. Karamvir (Har) 9:00.79.
Decathlon: 1. Ankit Saini (Har) 6807 pts, 2. Daya Ram (Raj) 6669 pts, 3. Narender (Har) 6637 pts.
Tuesday result: Pole vault: 1. S. Siva (TN) 4.90 m, 2. Praveen Kumar (Pjb) 4.80 m, 3. K.N. Bimin (Ker) 4.70 m.
Women: 20 km: 1. B. Soumya (Del) 1:42:55.24, 2. Priyanka (UP) 1:45:43.60, 3. Rani Yadav (UP) 1:49:19.75.
400 m hurdles: 1. Purnima Hembra (Odi) 59.27, 2. Ayana Thomas (Del) 59.63, 3. Aarthi (TN) 1:00.60.
800 m: 1. Gomathi (TN) 2:06.28, 2. Sini A. Markose (Ker) 2:07.61, 3. Archana Yadav (Mah) 2:08.44.
Steeplechase: 1. Parul Chaudry (UP) 10:46.92, 2. Nandini Gupta (UP) 11:08.92, 3. Angel James (Ker) 11:13.21.
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