Annu sets national mark, Kerala retains overall championship

Annu Rani, the Uttar Pradesh javelin thrower, improved her own national record with a 59.87m throw while Kerala took the overall championship with 164 points as 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, concluded here today.
Annu, the Incheon Asian Games bronze medalist, bettered her previous meet mark with her first round 59.06m at G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium. However her big throw of the day (59.87m) came in the fourth round that erased her two year old Incheon performance of 59.53m.
Her teammate Suman Devi, who led with a season best 59.45m registered during her gold winning throw in South Asian Games at Guwahati earlier this year, could log only 55.88m in second place today. Haryana girl Sharmila Kumari was third with 53.80m throw.

Both Annu and Suman returned to India along with male javelin throwers Rajender Singh and Vipin Kasana from their European training tour especially to take part in the senior nationals here, while the top two javelin throwers of the season, Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh remain with their coach Gary Calvert for competitions.
Team Kerala took the overall championship with 164 points with neighbouring Tamil Nadu placed runners-up in a close 150 points. TN team finished second in women's team championship (92 pts) while Haryana did so in men's with 62 points-that was just 6 points less than Kerala men (68).

Kerala also had another reason to delight as their 400m hurdler Jithin Paul adjudged the best male athlete of the meet. Haryana quarter-miler Nirmala Sheoran, who was the lone qualifier for the Rio Olympics from this five day meet which ended today, adjudged the best female athlete of the championship.

Andhra javelin thrower Amit Kumar (24) pulled a big surprise as he won the men's event with a notable personal best 79.14m ahead of Ravinder Singh Khaira (78.11m) and Vipin Kasana (77.94m) whereas national record-holder Rajender Singh finished outside the podium with a performance of 76.65m.
Tamil Nadu distance runners L Suriya and G Lakshmanan (both secured gold in 5000 and 10000m) as well as middle distance star M Gomathi (gold in 800 and 1500m) made it a "double" here.

In 5,000m this morning Suriya came closer to O P Jaisha's meet mark of 15:57.05 with a fast 15:59.6 while Maharashtra's duo Swati Gadhave and Sanjivani Jadhav replicated their position from 10,000m held on the opening day.
Kerala's National Games champion Vallikhad Santhini posted a personal best 23.88 secs to win the women's 200m. In the men's race Haryana lad Dharambir successfully defended his title in 20.90 secs but missed the Rio qualification by 0.40 secs.
Unheralded Siddhant Adhikari (Assam) took the men's 1500m race with a non-descript 3:54.64.
Karnataka high jumper Sahana Kumari, who qualified for the London Olympics from this venue four years ago, won her eleventh inter-state title (sixth in a row) this evening clearing 1.79m. Last time she set a national record 1.92m in the Gachibowli Stadium that stands intact as of now.

Three national "select" teams from India took part in men's 4 x 400m relay alongside the Sri Lankan national team invited to participate here.
The Indian women's Team-A consisting of Anilda Thomas, Tintu Luka, M R Poovamma and Nirmala Sheoran clocked 3:29.04 this evening that helped them moved to twelfth place from their previous 13th slot on the "Relay Rankings" specially prepared for the Olympic qualification purpose.
The men's "A" team of Kunhimuhammed, Muhammed Anas, Ayyasamy Dharun and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:03.71 whereas a time of 3:03.34 required to get in to the 16th slot as per the current rankings. However they had the satisfaction of moving in to sixteenth from the earlier 21st rank.

Only the top-16 teams at the end of qualification period (11 July) will be considered for participation in Rio Olympic Games.