Services' Mohammed Sadath and Tamil Nadu's S Archana won the 100 metres dash for men and women respectively while Davinder Singh Kang captured the men's javelin event at the 57th National Open Athletics Championships here today.
The sprint finals were expected to be the higlight of the second day of the national meet and they turned out to be close contests.
In the men's race, Sadath pipped Tamil Nadu sprinter Elakkiyadasan by five-hundreths of a second. He clocked 10.565 to his closest rival's 10.570. Vidya Sagar of Services took the bronze with a time of 10.60.
The women's sprint saw Archana romp home in 11.78 seconds well ahead of her state-mate Chandra Lekha, who clocked 11.92 to the delight of the local contingent while Karnataka's Prajna S Prakash finished third.
The men's javelin final saw Kang of Services come up with a throw of 75.12 metres to seal the gold with his Services teammate Abhishek Singh taking second place (with 74.19 metres). Sunil Bishnoi of Punjab finished third.
Kang, who had reached the final of the World Athletics Championship in London last month, was not at his best but delivered the goods when it mattered. He had come up with an effort of 84.22 metres in the British capital but the muggy conditions in Chennai seemed to affect his performance.
He has been in the news after reportedly stating that he was mulling a move to Italy after being kept out of the Centre's TOPS list. In the absence of the national record holder Neeraj Chopra, he was the favourite and lived up to the billing.
Jitu Baby of Services claimed the gold in the 400 metres run, winning the race in a time of 47.08 seconds. Mohan Kumar of ONGC and Haryana's Ravinder took the second and third places respectively.
Railways' S E Shamsheer leapt to a distance of 7.74 metres to take the top spot in the long jump final ahead of Sahil Mahabali of Haryana and M Silambarasan of Services.
The winner recorded 7.74 on his fourth attempt, which was the gold medal-winning mark. He had incidentally qualified ninth best for the final with Tamil Nadu's Sabari Shankar topping the list. The host state's athlete could only finish 10th in the final with a leap of 7.39 metres.
Abhishek Shetty of Railways won the gruelling decathlon event, by garnering 6,835 points with Amolak Singh and Dayaram, both of Services finishing second and third respectively.
In the women's shot put, Navjeet Kaur of Railways came up trumps with an effort of 15.23 metres on her second attempt. It was way below the national and meet record of 17.96 metres achieved by Manpreet Kaur in Kolkata two years ago. Kachnar Chaudhary of ONGC and Rakhi Sangwan (Haryana) finished second and third in the event.
Like on the opening day, athletes of Services and Railways continued to dominate save for women's 100 metres which saw Tamil Nadu secure a 1-2 finish while Soniya Baisya of Bengal ran away with the 400 metres gold.
Results (Finals): Men: 100 metres: 1. Md Sadath (Services) 10.565; 2. Elakkiyadasan (TN) 10.570; 3. Vidya Sagar (Services) 10.60. 400 metres: 1. Jithu Baby (Services) 47:08; 2. Mohan Kumar (ONGC) 47.17; 3. Ravinder (Haryana) 47.26. 100 metres hurdles: 1. Siddanth Thingalaya (ONGC) 14.06; 2. Akhil Johnson (Services) 14.20; 3. A Suresh (Railways) 14.23.
Javelin Throw: 1. Davinder Singh Kang (Services) 75.12 metres; 2. Abhishek Singh (Services) 74.19m; 3. Sunil Bishnoi (Punjab) 74.03m. Long jump: 1. S E Shamsheer (Railways) 7.74 m; 2. Sahil Mahabali (Haryana) 7.56 m; 3. M Silambarasan (Services) 7.53 m. Decathlon: 1. Abhishek Shetty (Railways) 6,835 points; 2. Amolak Singh (Services) 6,754; 3. Dayaram (Services) 6,697.
1,500 metres: 1. Ajay Saroj (Railways) 3:41.93; 2. Md Afsal (Services) 3:45.48; 3. Bir Singh (Haryana) 3:47.95.
Women: 100 metres: 1. S Archana (TN) 11.78; 2. Chandra Lekha (TN) 11.92; 3. Prajna S Prakash (Karnataka) 11.92. Shot put: 1. Navjeet Kaur (Railways) 15.23m; 2. Kachnar Chaudhary (ONGC) 14.11m; 3. Rakhi Sangwan (Haryana) 13.76m. 100 metres hurdles: 1. Purnima Hembram (Railways) 13.89; 2. Anurupa Kumari (Jharkhand) 13.98; 3. Somiya (Railways) 14.32.
400 metres: 1. Soniya Baisya (West Bengal) 53.98; 2. G K Vijayakumari (Karnataka) 54.14; 3. Juana Murmu (ONGC) 54.50. 1,500 metres: 1. Archana (Maharashtra) 4:18.64; 2. Monika Chaudhary (Railways) 4:19:15; 3. Pramila Yadav (Railways) 4:27.29.
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