Patiala, March 15: Uttar Pradesh javelin thrower Annu Rani rewrite the national record with an attempt of 63.24 metres on the opening day of the 24th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports complex here today.
However, she fell a little short of the Olympic qualification standard of 64.00 m despite bettering her won national mark. The 27-year-old World No. 12 came up with a standout performance. She led Uttar Pradesh to three gold medals in four finals.
Debutant Savita Pal, 21 made the winning start in a 10,000-metre race, edging past Sanjvani Jadhav (Maharashtra). Shot putter Kiran Baliyan accounted for the third gold with an effort of 16.45 metres.
The other gold was won by Tamil Nadu polevaulter Rosy Paulraj, who cleared the bar at 3.80m. However, it was her teammate sprinter S Dhanalakshmi who warmed the hearts with a stunning race in the women’s 100m semi-finals.
Dhanalakshmi threw down the gauntlet for Dutee Chand (Odisha) with an 11.38-second 100m dash to stun the viewers just as much as it would have her State-mate Archana Suseendran, who was second in that heat in 11.66 seconds. Taking to the track after Assam’s Hima Das won her heats in 11.63 seconds, Dutee Chand clocked 11.51 without straining every sinew.
In the afternoon, Gurindervir Singh (Punjab) set a personal best time of 10.30 seconds in the men’s 100m semi-finals. It was the third fastest time by an Indian sprinter behind the 10.21 clocked by Anil Kumar in the year 2000) and the 10.26 clocked by Amiya Kumar Mallick (2016) and Sanjeet Singh (2018). It equalled the 10.30 by Mohammed Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (2010).
There was no medal event for men on the opening day.
The results (finals): Women:
10,000m: 1. Savita Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 33:59.35; 2. Sanjivani Jadhav (Maharashtra) 34:01.26; 3. Kavita Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 34:04.45.
Pole Vault: 1. Rosy Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) 3.90m; 2. Pavithra Venkatesh (Tamil Nadu) 3.80; 3. Mariya Jaison (Kerala) 3.70.
Shot Put: 1. Kiran Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh) 16.45m; 2. Manpreet Kaur (Punjab) 15.65; 3. Sonal Goyal (Delhi) 15.09.
Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 63.24m (New National & Meet Records. Old National Record: 62.43, Annu Rani, Doha, 2019; Old Meet Record: 62.34, Annu Rani, 2019); 2. Sanjana Choudhary (Rajasthan) 54.55; 3. Sharmila Kumari (Haryana) 50.78.
