Sunita’s comeback highlights second leg of Indian Circuit

Sunita Rani made a memorable come back in the second leg of Indian National Athletics Circuit at NSNIS grounds at Patiala this evening by winning the women’s 10,000m in 34:57.42.

The 26-years old Rani’s time today was around 20 seconds off her personal best of 34:38.72 registered when she won the gold medal in South Asian Federation Games at Kathmandu six years ago. However it is a morale booster for an athlete who underwent enormous mental agony following doping allegations during the Asian Games at Seoul in 2002. 

Rani won an appeal and got her medals back through the initiatives of both Indian Olympic Association and the Athletic Federation of India.  She maintained a very low profile with a fourth place finish (1500m) at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games at Hyderabad in 2003, and did not surface throughout 2004 following injuries. 

More is expected from this versatile athlete by a nation. Rani is an expert metric miler and one wish to wait and watch how she takes the heat when the season moving towards the peak.

Neelam, Ranvijay triumph again

Neelam Jaswant Singh continues her winning streak in the women’s Discus Throw with 60.65m.  Neelam, already qualified for the Helsinki World Championships thanks to her performances last year.  But it is imperative that she shows signs of form this season to convince the national federation that selection is justified.

Ranvijay Singh once again touched 19 metres mark in the men’s Shot Put but needs to cross 20.50m to obtain a berth on the Indian team this year.   

Jayachandran sprints to glory

Hariharan Jayachandran, working at Coimbatore in the Life Insurance Corporation of India, proved that he is no more a second-liner, with his time of 10.56 (0.9 m/s in a photo-finish 0.9 m/s was enough for the win.

Similar to the first leg at New Delhi, the Athletic Federation of India awarded prize money totaling Rs.2.5 lacs to the top finishers in this circuit.   The third leg of the circuit is scheduled to be held in another Punjab town of Ludhiana on May 24.      

Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF

Results:

Men:

100m (-0.9): 1. H. Jayachandran 10.56; 2. Piyush Kumar 10.59; 3. Vishal Kumar 10.59;

400m: 1. Satbir Singh 46.83; 2. Sarish Paul 47.92; 3. Aboo Backer 48.15;

1500m: 1. Ghamanda Ram 3:52.11; 2. P.S. Primesh 3:57.99; 3. Josemon Mathew 3:58.04;

10,000m: 1. Kuldeep Kumar 30:44.94, 2. Santosh 31:04.58 3. Pritam Bind 31:20.93;

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Arun D’Souza 9:09.67; 2. R.B. Subba 9:12.16; 3. Vikas Singh 9:17.23;

High Jump: 1. Anilkumar Chahal 2.16; 2. Kakkad Razack Roshan 2.05; 3. Dhananjay Rai 1.95;

Long Jump: 1. Maha Singh 7.91 (0.9); 2. Pushpendra Singh 7.56 (2.0); 3. Amritpal Singh 7.52 (1.3); 

Shot Put: 1. Ranvijay Singh 19.23; 2. Jaiveer Singh 18.56; 3. Shakti Singh 18.38;

Discus Throw: 1. Amritpal Singh 52.35; 2. Sukhbir Singh 51.39; 3. Simranjit Singh 50.71;

Hammer Throw: 1. Kulwinder Singh 65.27; 2. Harpal Singh 63.39; 3. Birkiran Singh 62.98;

Javelin Throw: 1. Jagdish Bishnoi 74.18; 2. Sunil Goswami 72.03; 3. Gajender Kumar 71.67;

Women:

100m (0.7): 1. Poonam Tomar 11.62; 2. Kavita Pandya 12.02; 3. K.M. Greeshma 12.07;

400m: 1. Chitra K. Soman 52.94; 2. Manjeet Kaur 53.64; 3. Rajwinder Kaur 54.46;

1500m: 1. Sinimol Paulose 4:29.31; 2. Sunita Kumari 4:31.62; 3. M.C. Salma 4:37.12;

10,000m: 1. Sunita Rani 34:57.42; 2. Beant Kaur 37:21.18; 3. Preeja Sreedharan 37:33.43;

Discus Throw: 1. Neelam J. Singh 60.65; 2. Krishna Poonia 58.33; 3. Seema Antil 53.85;

Hammer Throw: 1. Ritu Rani 56.87; 2. Ushma Singh 52.66; 3. Rajwinder Kaur 52.55;