National Inter-State Athletics C’ships: Tejaswin, Swapna earn Asian Games qualification

National Inter-State Athletics Championship 2023: Tejaswin Shankar relied on his good showing in high jump, clearing 2.20m on day one, and pole vault, achieving 4m on day two to gather 7576 points.

FILE PHOTO: Tejaswin Shankar fetched 3367 points on day two. | Photo Credit: Ramanan V V/ The Hindu

Tejaswin Shankar overcame a bleeding nose and an unstable ankle in testing conditions over two days to achieve the Asian Games qualifying mark and win the decathlon gold medal in the National inter-state athletics championships at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday.

The lanky well-built Delhi lad relied on his good showing in his pet event (high jump), clearing 2.20m on day one, and pole vault, achieving 4m while being guided by National record holder Siva Subramani, on day two to gather 7576 points, including a fine second day effort that fetched him 3367 points.

“This win belongs to all my co-competitors who pushed me and supported me throughout the event, including the last 1500m race,” said Tejaswin.

Swapna Barman, whose participation in the Asian championships was in doubt like Tejaswin, won the heptathlon event with 5918 points and earned Asian Games qualification.

In men’s triple jump, Praveen Chithravel leaped 17.07m to win the gold and lead a pack of three athletes who breached the qualifying mark. Karnataka’s Akhilesh badly injured his right leg during the event.

Jyothi Yarraji equaled her own meet record in the morning and then dipped below it in the final to win the 100m hurdles with 12.92.

Pavithra Venkatesh did 4.10m in the women’s pole vault to earn the Hangzhou Games mark.

The results (finals)

Men:

110mH (WC QM: 13.28, AG QM: 13.57): 1. Tejas Shirse (Mah) 13.87, 2. Sachin Binu (Ker) 13.99, 3. Ronald Babu (MP) 14.24; Triple jump (WC QM: 17.20m, AG QM: 16.60m): 1. Praveen Chithravel (TN) 17.07m, 2. Abdulla Aboobacker (Ker) 16.88m, 3. Eldhose Paul (Ker) 16.75m; Hammer (WC QM: 78.00, AG QM: 71.10): 1. Taranveer Singh Bains (Pun) 68.07m, 2. Nitesh Poonia (Raj) 67.10m, 3. Damneet Singh (Pun) 65.86m; High jump (WC QM: 2.32, AG QM: 2.24): 1. Sarvesh Kushare (Mah) 2.24m, 2. Jesse Sandesh (Kar) 2.24m, 3. Bharathi Viswanathan (TN) 2.17m; Decathlon (WC QM: 8460, AG QM: 7500): 1. Tejaswin Shankar (Del) 7576, 2. Yaman Deep Sharma (Raj) 7165, 3. Gokul S. (Ker) 6937; 4x100m Relay (AG QM: 39.00): 1. Tamil Nadu 40.15, 2. Odisha 40.24, 3. Punjab 41.05.

Women:

100mH (WC QM: 12.78, AG QM: 13.63): 1. Jyothi Yarraji (AP) 12.92 (NMR, Old 13.39, Jyothi Yarraji, 2022), 2. Nithya R. (TN) 13.48, 3. Agasara Nandini (Tel) 13.55; Pole vault (WC QM: 4.71, AG QM: 4.10): 1. Pavithra Venkatesh (TN) 4.10m (NMR, Old 4.00m, Khyati Vakharia, 2018), 2. Sindhushree G. (Kar) 3.80m, 3. Vanshika Ghanghas (Har) 3.40m; Heptathlon (WC QM: 6480, AG QM: 5654): 1. Swapna Barman (MP) 5918, 2. Agasara Nandini (Tel) 5703, 3. Sowmiya Murugan (AP) 5323; 4x100m Relay (AG QM: 44.50): 1. Kerala 46.35, 2. Andhra Pradesh 46.61, 3. Odisha 46.68.