Amarjeet Singh of Punjab (© Krishnan)
Soma Biswas became the second Indian to qualify for the Athens Olympics Heptathlon (after J.J. Shobha), while amassing a final total of 6162 points winning the women’s Combined Event on the final day of the Indian Inter-State Championships here on Tuesday (20 July).
In the absence of Shobha, who had already left with other Indian Olympic qualifiers for a training stint in Kiev, Ukraine, G.G. Pramila gave Biswas the required thrust in a keen competition. Though Pramila had to give up after the Javelin Throw, leaving Soma alone with her junior compatriot Sushmita Singharoy, Biswas ran a splendid 800m to gain 918 points which allowed her to achieve the A qualifying standard.
Biswas clocked 13.70 (100m H), high jumped 1.67m, put the Shot 12.91m, ran 24.32 in 200m on the first day, before leaping 6.27 in the Long Jump, throwing the Javelin 46.91m and running 2:13.20 for 800m on the second day.
Sushmita Singharoy finished second with a distant 5105 points.
Amarjeet Singh triples out to 16.44
In an attempt to join the Indian Olympic team, Amarjeet Singh of Punjab, the nation's best triple jumper at present, hit the sand at 16.44m, to improve his previous best of 16.38m achieved while winning the National Games at Hyderabad two years ago.
Amarjeet Singh started with a moderate 16.17m on his first try but fouled the next. His third (15.92m) and fourth (15.97) jumps were also not commendable but when he hit 16.40m on his fifth jump everyone expected a mega leap on his last attempt which however settled at 16.44m, thus he missed the qualifying grade by 11cms.
Amarjeet Singh in the process bettered the meet mark of 16.18m held jointly by Suresh Babu of Kerala (1976 Palai) and Pritpal Singh of Punjab (2002 Bangalore).
The national record remains unchanged with a 1971 performance of 16.79m standing in the name of Mohinder Singh Gill.
Another Punjab athlete Gurpreet Singh won his second gold medal in 400m hurdles adding it to his 110m victory earlier.
Gowda disappointed
The great disappointment of the day came from Vikas Gowda, a student at North Carolina. Gowda had already made waves with a personal best in the Discus of 64.35m achieved at the Hartnell Invitational in Salinas, California on May 19, this year.
Gowda started with 58.32 yesterday, and improved to 58.48 on the second try, which was enough for him to win the title in the absence of national record holder Anil Kumar. However, Gowda fouled his remaining four throws which will leave him with a difficulty, as the Athletic Federation of India are not likely to consider his US marks for Olympic qualification.
Anil Kumar (Kerala) and Saraswati Saha (Bengal) won the 200m for men and women respectively.
In the women's pole vault, Chetna Solanki of Uttar Pradesh and V.S. Surekha of Tamil Nadu scaled a new meet record height of 3.50m, with the former declared winner on count back.
Punjab took the team title for men with 78 points, while hosts Tamil Nadu won the women's trophy in 94 points. Punjab however become the overall champions of the meet with an aggregate of 146 points.
Sprinter Anil Kumar and high jumper Bobby Aloysius (both from Kerala) were respectively declared the best male and female athletes of the championship.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Results:
Men:
200m (1.8): 1. Anil Kumar (Kerala) 20.90; 2. Abhishek Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 21.54; 3. Ganesh Satpute (Maharashtra) 21.83;
800m: 1. P.S. Primesh (Kerala) 1:50.90; 2. K.A. Jayakumar (Kerala) 1:51.53; 3. K.S. Ashok (Karnataka) 1:53.07;
5,000m: 1. Mukesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 14:48.82; 2. Sunil Kumar (Haryana) 14:49.13; 3. Pritam Bind (Uttaranchal) 15:00.01;
400m Hurdles: 1. Gurpreet Singh (Punjab) 51.14; 2. Kuldev Singh (Punjab) 51.98; 3. Kiran Prasad (Kerala) 52.38;
Triple Jump: 1. Amarjeet Singh (Punjab) 16.44/0.2 (New Meet Record); 2. Alex Thomas (Tamil Nadu) 15.56/2.2; 3. Bhupinder Singh (Punjab) 15.48/0.5;
Discus Throw: 1. Vikas Gowda (Karnataka) 58.48; 2. Gursewak Singh (Punjab) 53.32; 3. Amandeep Singh (Punjab) 50.22;
Javelin Throw: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi (Punjab) 75.38; 2. Gajendra Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 73.16; 3. Omnarain Singh (Haryana) 72.71;
4x400m Relay: 1. Kerala (Sunil Joseph, Jayakumar, Primesh, Sreejith) 3:13.69; 2. Uttar Pradesh 3:15.45; 3. Tamil Nadu 3:19.47;
Women:
200m (1.4): 1. Saraswati Saha (West Bengal) 23.30; 2. Rakhee Saha (West Bengal) 24.78; 3. Anju Kumari (Tamil Nadu) 25.16;
800m: 1. Madhuri A. Singh (Punjab) 2:02.55; 2. Sunita Khanojia (Delhi) 2:05.51; 3. S.Shanthi (Tamil Nadu) 2:09.63;
10,000m: 1. Rajni (Punjab) 39:35.57; 2. Vaishali Chaitre (Maharashtra) 40:27.38; 3. Asha Sadhu (West Bengal) 41:14.69;
400m Hurdles: 1. Babita Chaudhary (Maharashtra) 1:00.20; 2. Roselin Arokyamary (Tamil Nadu) 1:01.92; 3. K.J. Vijila (Kerala) 1:02.30;
20,000m Walk: 1. Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1::54:47.88; 2. L.Deepmala Devi (Manipur) 1::57:29.42; 3. Sandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1::58:02.37;
Pole Vault: 1. Chetna Solanki (Uttar Pradesh) 3.50 (New Meet Record); 2. V.S. Surekha (Tamil Nadu) 3.50; 3. Deepa Chaudhary (Delhi) 3.30;
Heptathlon: 1. Soma Biswas (West Bengal) 6162; 2. Sushmita Singharoy (West Bengal) 5105; 3. Manju Paulose (Kerala) 4647;
4x400m Relay: 1. Tamil Nadu (Elavarasi, Tharani, Roselin Arokyamary, S.Shanthi) 3:51.12; 2. Kerala 3:52.56; 3. West Bengal 4:11.82;
