Ramachandran and Sunita Rani
adjudged best athletes
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
28 June 2002 –
Chennai, India - P.Ramachandran of hosts Tamil Nadu and Sunita Rani, represented Punjab
Police, declared as best athletes in the 8th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics
Championships which concluded here yesterday.
The Federation Cup served as the final trials to select the Indian Team for the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Senior Championships.
Humid weather conditions hindered the athletes' efforts, but nonetheless 14 meet records (7 each by men and women) and several personal bests, including two Asian leading marks of the season were registered during the four-day meet.
K.M.Beenamol, semi-finalist in Sydney Olympics and Edmonton Worlds, clocked a season's best time (51.81) by an Asian to sent a warning to Sri Lanka's ace quarter-miler Damayanthi Dharsha. Sunita Rani posted a time of 4:08.60 in the metric mile, was well ahead of Japan's Ikuko Tamura who clocked 4:12.30 in Golden Gala at Nobeoka less than a month ago.
Amarjeet Singh hit the sand at 16.29m for a second-best ever mark by an Indian in the Triple Jump. Though he was a half-metre of the national record of 16.79m by Mohinder Singh Gill that has stood since 1971.
Sprinter Anand Menezes showed tremendous form to secure a double while long distance stars Gojen Singh and Beant Kaur did so in their favourite events.
Anju George (nee Markose) had an advantage over others in long and triple jumps, secured her third gold as a member of the Tamil Nadu state team.
Bahadur Singh Sagoo overwhelmed veteran Shakti Singh, the current national champion in shot put, to open a keen contest for the top spot at the continental meet in the nation's strongest event.
The Indian Army won the men's team championship with 90 points. V.Jayalakshmi, on a "generous loan" from her employers Indian Bank, contributed richly to the hosts Tamil Nadu securing the women's title.
The meet closed with a rather controversil women's 4x400m relay. The National "Select" Team consisting of Mukti Saha, Priya Rose, S.Geetha and Sagardeep Kaur had a neck-to-neck battle with Tamil Nadu quartet of V.Jayalakshmi, N.Tharani, Roselin Arockiya Mary and C.Latha. Unfortunately, the third leg runner S. Geetha ‘deliberately hit' Roselin, the Tamil Nadu girl dropped the baton and eventually the race was won by the national team. The hosts however showed a spirit of sportsmanship and preferred not to lodge a protest against the national team, which saved an embarrassment for Dr. Lalit K. Bhanot, the AAFI Secretary, who witnessed the race.
The Punjab Police had won the overall champion trophy with 149 points.
The meet was inaugurated on Monday, the 24th June, by Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, President of the Asian Amateur Athletic Association and the Indian federation.
Leading Results:
Men: 100m: 1. Anand Menezes (AP) 10.49; 2. Piyush (Del) 10.53; 3. Sanjay Ghosh (Army) 10.56; 200m: 1. Anand Menezes (AP) 20.79 (NMR); 2. Ajayraj Singh (P. Police) 21.18; 3. S. Srinivas (AP) 21.67; 400m: 1. P. Ramachandran (TN) 45.66 (NMR); 2. Bhupinder Singh (Har) 45.76; 3. Manoj Lal (Ker) 46.04; 800 m: 1. P.S. Primesh (Jhar) 1:49.61; 2. Jaya Kumar (Ker) 1:50.28; 3. Suresh (Army) 1:50.75; 1,500m: 1. Kuldeep Kumar (UP) 3:44.18 (NMR); 2. T.M. Sanjeev (CRPF) 3:47.71; 3. B.B. Manjunath (CRPF) 3:49.65; 5,000m: 1. Gojen Singh (Mani) 14:14.64; 2. Shivanand (AP) 14:24.16; 3. Aman Saini (HP) 14:27.05; 10,000m: 1. Gojen Singh (Mani) 30:37.00; 2. Jagannath Lakade (Army) 30:37.57; 3. K. Upendra (CRPF) 30:38.64; 110m hurdles: 1. Navnidh Singh (BSF) 14.64; 2. Harish Kushalappa (Kar) 14.76; 3. Kuldeep Singh (Army) 15.06; 400m hurdles: 1. P. Shankar (AP) 51.68 (NMR); 2. Abhishek Pandey (UP) 51.88; 3. Rakesh Kanwar (Army) 51.89; 3,000m SC: 1. Arun D'Souza (AP) 8:51.77 (NMR); 2. Ranjan Kumar Jha (Army) 8:53.67; 3. T.D. Varghese (CRPF) 9:22.90; HJ: 1. Omvir Singh (Raj) 2.08; 2. Harishankar Roy (Ben) 2.08; 3. M. Loranse (Navy) 2.05; PV: 1. Ramdhari (Army) 4.60; 2. Gajanan Upadhyaya (Bih) 4.50; 3. Kulwant Singh, Satpal Singh (P. Police) and K. Shyju (Army) 4.30; LJ: 1. Amritpal Singh (Punjab Police) 7.73; 2. Satish Kumar (BSF) 7.49; 3. Lakshminarayan (TN) 7.26; TJ: 1. Amarjit Singh (Pun) 16.29 (NMR); 2. Pritpal Singh (P. Police) 15.57; 3. Sanjay Dwivedi (Army) 15.35; SP: 1. Bahadur Singh Sagoo (Punjab Police) 19.68 (NMR); 2. Navpreet Singh (Jhar) 19.33; 3. Shakti Singh (Har) 18.76; DT: 1. Anil Kumar (ONGC) 58.34; 2. Hridyanand Singh (UP) 56.85; 3. V. Gowda (Kar) 54.49; HT: 1. Pramod Tiwari (AP) 65.87; 2. Rakesh Kumar (UP) 62.91; 3. Gurinderjit Singh (P. Police) 60.99; Javelin: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi (P. Police) 75.83; 2. Md. Fazal Ansari (Army) 75.36; 3. Harminder Singh (P. Police) 74.28; Decathlon: 1. Anantha Padmanaba (Kar) 6459; 2. Dhananjay Rai (UP) 6419; 3. Ranjit Randhawa (Del) 6165; 20 Km walk: 1. Gurdev Singh (Army) 1::33:08; 2. Sitaram Singh (Army) 1::34:55; 3. Gurmit Singh (Pun) 1::37:48; 4x100m: 1. National "Select" Team (Sanjay Ghosh, Piyush Pandey, Anand Menezes, H. Jayachandran) 40.44; 2. Andhra Pradesh 41.09; 3. Army 41.18; 4x400m: 1. National "Select" Team (P. Ramachandran, K.J. Manoj Lal, Satbir Singh, Bhupinder Singh) 3:04.40; 2. Army 3:13.58; 3. Andhra Pradesh 3:17.57;
Women: 100m: 1. Saraswati Saha (Ben) 11.54; 2. V. Jayalakshmi (TN) 11.68; 3. Mandeep Kaur (P. Police) 11.79; 200m: 1. V. Jayalakshmi (TN) 23.88; 2. Sagardeep Kaur (P. Police) 24.22; 3. Mukti Saha (Ben) 24.39; 400m: 1. K.M. Beenamol (Ker) 51.81 (NMR) (Asian SB); 2. Jincy Philip (CRPF) 52.71; 3. Manjima Kuriakose (CRPF) 53.62; 800m: 1. Madhuri A. Singh (PSEB) 2:03.88; 2. Sunita Dahiya (Har) 2:05.36; 3. Sunita Kumari (Del) 2:06.85; 1,500m: 1. Sunita Rani (P. Police) 4:08.60 (Asian SB); 2. Sunita Kumari (Del) 4:18.56; 3. Geetha Manral (CRPF) 4:22.89; 5,000m: 1. Beant Kaur (P. Police) 16:54.11; 2. Pushpa (Del) 17.01.97; 3. B. Nagamani (AP) 17:37.56; 10,000m: 1. Beant Kaur (P. Police) 35:22.94; 2. Pushpa (Del) 35:48.25; 3. G. Pangadjame (Pondy) 45:25.02; 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 13.59; 2. Poonam Bojanna (Kar) 13.99; 3. K.N. Priya (TN) 14.41; 400m hurdles: 1. Sahebani Oram (Ori) 57.60 (NMR); 2. Roselin Arokya Mary (TN) 59.08; 3. P. Uday Laxmi (AP) 59.48; HJ: 1. M. Sangeetha (TN) 1.75; 2. Sahana Kumari (Kar) 1.73; 3. Sarita Patil (Mah) 1.71; PV: 1. V.S. Surekha (TN) 3.20 (NMR); 2. Karamjit Kaur (P. Police) 3.10; 3. Chetna Solanki 3.00; LJ: 1. Anju B. George (TN) 6.59 (NMR); 2. Jetty C. Joseph (Ker) 6.25; 3. Ruta Patkar (Mah) 5.95; TJ: 1. Anju B. George (TN) 13.29 (NMR); 2. M. Krishnapriya (TN) 12.86; 3. Kalpana Das (Ben) 12.41; SP: 1. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 15.39; 2. N. Latha (TN) 14.54; 3. Chaitali Paul (Ben) 14.34; DT: 1. Neelam J. Singh (AP) 60.95 (NMR); 2. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 57.96; 3. Swaranjit Kaur (P. Police) 55.86; HT: 1. Hardeep Kaur (Pun) 61.31 (NMR); 2. Rajwinder Kaur (P. Police) 54.96; 3. Alka Pandey (UP) 45.06; JT: 1. Suman Devi (UP) 48.36; 2. Manisha Mondal (Ben) 47.45; 3. N.M. Hemalatha (Kar) 45.82; Heptathlon: 1. J.J. Shoba (AP) 5801; 2. P. Bindu (Ben) 5148; 3. Sneha Princy (TN) 4774; 20 Km walk: 1. Deepmala Devi (Mani) 1::47:49; 2. Jasmin Kaur (P. Police) 1::47:50; 3. Y. Bala Devi (Ben) 1::50.57; 4x100m: 1. Tamil Nadu (K.N. Priya, Anju B. George, Noosheen Rajendran, V. Jayalakshmi) 47.65; 2. Punjab 47.70; 3. Andhra Pradesh 48.07; 4x400m: 1. National "Select" Team (Mukti Saha, Priya Rose, S. Geetha, Sagardeep Kaur) 3:36.74; 2. Tamil Nadu 3:49.07; 3. Punjab Police 3:54.03;
Team championship: Men: 1. Army (90 points), 2. Punjab Police (67), 3. Andhra Pradesh (62); Women: 1. Tamil Nadu (97), 2. Punjab Police (82), 3. Bengal (43);
Overall championship: 1. Punjab Police (149), 2. Tamil Nadu (132), 3. Andhra Pradesh (97).
Best athletes: Men: P. Ramachandran (TN); Women: Sunita Rani (Punjab Police).
