Hyderabad, June 29, 2016: It was a day to remember for Kerala long jumper V Neena. The 25-year-old athlete from Koyilandi has made a big leap of 6.45m to win the gold from pre-event favourite and teammate M A Prajusha.
Of the four finals scheduled in the evening session of the opening day of 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships at G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium here, the women’s long jump attracts more number of fans.
Neena, who won the previous edition of the senior nationals at Chennai last year, successfully retained her title in this event. With today’s jump she improved her previous best of 6.39m recorded while winning the gold medal at the National Games in Thiruvananthapuram in early 2015.
Prajusha, a silver medalist in long jump during the Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010, had beaten Neena on two occasions this year – during the Indian Grand Prix and Federation Cup – both held Delhi in April. Hence it was a sweet revenge for Neena to upset her senior teammate at this prestigious competition.
“I am happy with this evening’s performance although I could not accomplish my earlier plan of qualifying for the Rio Games” revealed Neena after the competition.
Maharashtra’s Shraddha Ghule replicated her third place position from the Delhi Federation Cup with a modest 5.98m.
Manpreet shot in to action, Sarita hammered to success
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur (junior) of Punjab capitalized the absence of her namesake Manpreet Kaur (senior) to pockets the gold in women’s shot put. In that process she improved her personal best to 16.78m. The Inter-University champion, who turned 20 this March, made her graduation to senior category a memorable one.
World junior bronze medalist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon, also of Punjab who won the Chennai edition last year, settled with a silver tossing the iron ball to 15.36m. Delhi girl Sonal Goyal completes the podium with 13.43m.
Sarita Prakash Singh (Uttar Pradesh) extends her winning streak in hammer throw as she nail the gold by sending the ball and chain to 61.19m. However it was fell short of her personal best 61.81m achieved during the Federation Cup at Delhi.
Haryana’s Reena (54.23m) and Kerala girl Athira Muralidharan (48.52m) took the next two spots. For information, Athira recorded a personal best 50.22m while taking the title in Kerala State championships at Thiruvananthapuram earlier this month.
Results: Women: 10,000m: 1 L Surua (TN) 33:27.01; 2 Swati Gadhave (Mah) 33:45.50; 3 Sanjivani Jadhav (Mah) 33:54.77. Shot put: 1 Manpreet Singh (Punjab) 16.78m; 2 Navjeet Kaur (Punjab) 15.36m; 3 Sonal Goyal (Delhi) 13.43m. Long Jump: 1Neena V (Kerala) 6.45 m; 2 Prajusha MA (Kerala) 6.29m; 3 Shradhha Ghule (Maharashtra) 5.98m. Hammer: 1 Sarita Prakash Singh (UP) 61.19m; 2 Reena (Haryana) 54.23m; 3 Athira Muralidharan (Kerala) 48.52m.
Men: 5000 m: 1 Lakshmanan (TN) 14:06.04; 2 Suresh Kumar Patel (UP) 14:11.45; 3 Yunus Mohammad (UP) 14:24.07.