Krishan Kumar (Haryana) and Harmilan Bains (Punjab) claimed the men and women’s 800m titles with a measure of comfort in the Fast&Up 60th National Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala here on a hot Sunday evening.
Krishan Kumar stepped into the lead at the bell and pulled away from the pack to add another gold to the Federation Cup title he won in March. Uttarakhand’s Anu Kumar tried to stay on Krishan Kumar’s heels but the Haryana athlete sustained his pace and momentum to win in 1:50.12. Asian Games gold medallist Manjit Singh (Haryana) took bronze.
Harmilan Bains enjoyed the vocal support of the handful of supporters as she left M R Poovamma in her wake after the first lap and opened up a sizable lead despite being shadowed by Delhi pair of Shalu Chaudhary and Chanda. The 22-year-old Harmilan won in 2:02.57 with Sri Lanka’s Nimali Liyanaarachchi finding the pace on the home stretch to edge Shalu to the bronze.
At the Punjabi University campus, Kerala triple jumpers Eldhose Paul, Karthik Unnikrishnan and Abdulla Aboobacker conjured a high-intensity competition once again. Having locked horns in the Federation Cup here in March, they sustained their rivalry, Eldhose Paul winning gold this time with a best effort of 16.58m.
Federation Cup gold medalist Karthik Unnikrishnan had to wait until his fifth try to get 16.54m and go past Abdulla Aboobacker for the second place. The third-placed athlete had three legal efforts, each over 16m but had to settle for the bronze in an event in which Tejaswin Shankar’s presence added both colour and intensity.
Sonu Kumari, bronze medalist in the Federation Cup in March, won the Heptathlon gold with a 5004-point effort in the gruelling two-day event.
Results (finals): Men
800m: 1. Krishan Kumar (Haryana) 1:50.15; 2. Anu Kumar (Uttarakhand) 1:51.05; 3. Manjit Singh (Haryana) 1:51.44.
5000m: 1. Kartik Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 14:42.76; 2. Adesh Yadav (Maharashtra) 14:45.45; 3. Arjun Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 15:01.21.
110m Hurdles: 1. Siddhant Thingalaya (Maharashtra) 14.11 seconds; 2. Mohammed Fais (Kerala) 14.34; 3. Amrinder Singh Aulakh (Punjab) 14.48.
Triple Jump: 1. Eldhose Paul (Kerala) 16.58m; 2. Karthik Unnikrishnan (Kerala) 16.54; 3. Abdulla Aboobacker (Kerala) 16.37.
Discus Throw: 1. Kirpal Singh (Punjab) 58.90m; 2. Harpreet Singh (Punjab) 57.73; 3. Gagandeep Singh (Punjab) 56.33.
Women
800m: 1. Harmilan Bains (Punjab) 2:02.57; 2. Chanda (Delhi) 2:03.36; 3. Nimali Liyanaarachchi (Sri Lanka) 2:05.69.
High Jump: 1. Angel P Devasia (Kerala) 1.65m; 2. Giji Geroge Stephen (Tamil Nadu) 1.60m.
Pole Vault: 1. Baranica Elangoval (Tamil Nadu) 3.90m; 2. Babita Patel (Madhya Pradesh) 3.40; 3. Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) 3.30.
Heptathlon: 1. Sonu Kumari (Haryana) 5004 points (100mH: 15.17; HJ: 1.64m; SP: 11.29m; 200m: 26.80; LJ: 5.53m; JT: 38.56m; 800m: 2:28.64); 2. Kajal (Haryana) 4740; 3. Madhu (Haryana) 4357.
National Inter-State to witness intense competition for Olympic berths
