Haridwar: The penultimate day of the 12th National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet belonged to the young talents from the hinterland and interiors of India and provided hints of revival in the middle distance running event.
Mankirat Singh from Ropar district (Punjab) stole the limelight with a new meet record in the boys’ under-16 shot put. His trump card – an immaculate throw of 16.91 metres – was watched by the entire stadium in rapt attention. The Punjab lad bettered the previous record of 16.65m which existed in the name of Shakti Solanki of North-West Delhi district. Incidentally, Solanki still owns the National record in the boys under-16 shot put event, which stands at 17.89 metres. Sirsa’s Saddam Hussain took the second spot with a throw of 15.44m while Juber Malik of Sonepat finidhed in third position with his best throw of 14.73m.
The presence of former Asian champion and Arjuna awardee Bagicha Singh at the meet, further motivated the budding athletes as they competed with each other to catch the attention of the middle-distance running star. One of the major highlight of the day was the number of entries in the middle distance of boys under-16 category – the 1000m event. There were as many as 222 participants in the event and the organisers had to conduct nine heats with almost 25 runners in each. The overwhelming response at the grass root for middle-distance is a sign of hope for the middle distance running category where India has produced several Asian champions in the past.
Meanwhile, in the boys under-14 long jump, Vishurt Tiwari of Jaunpur district (UP) clinched the title with a leap of 6.18m while yet another upcoming star from Sundergarh district (Odisha) Shankar Singh took the second position with an clean effort of 5.88m. Cooch Behar district’s (West Bengal) EK Ramin Haque finished in third place with a jump of 5.77m.
In the girls under-14 long jump, Pushpalata Murmu of Singhbhum district (Jharkhand) was a close winner with an effort of 4.86m while her rival breathing down her neck, Chandana Karmakar of Purulia Manbhumsa district (West Bengal) had to be content with the second place at 4.84m. Geeta of Mahendergarh district (Haryana) finished in third place with her best jump of 4.62m.
The girls under-16 shot put event was a close affair as all the podium finishers were in a neck-to-neck battle up to the end. Meerut district’s Anamika grabbed the top position with a throw of 10.98 metres, while Ritu of Jhunjhunu district (Rajashthan) finished second with an effort of 10.68m and Bombay City district’s (Maharashtra) Krutika Krishna Kumar took the third position with her best throw coming at 10.63m.
M Arockia Alwin Amal of Tiruchirapalli district (Tamil Nadu) clinched the title of the boys under-16 long jump with a leap of 6.51m, leaving behind Mushin Majeed KM of Thrissur (Kerala) and Sunny Kumar of Singrauli district (MP) in second and third place with respective jumps of 6.44m and 6.37m respectively.
Bhagalpur district’s (Bihar) Bharti Kumari grabbed the limelight in the girls under-16 long jump, finishing on top with a jump of 5.15m, while Chandernagore (West Bengal) district’s Pallavi Halder finished second with her best effort of 5.02m and Divya of Shimoga district (Karnataka) took the third position with a leap of 4.97m.
Pankaj from Jhajjar district (Haryana) emerged as a clear winner in the boys under-14 shot put event, hurling the iron ball to a distance of 14.52m while Manish Singh Antil of North-West Delhi district took the second place with a throw of 13.00m and V Isak of Prakasham district (Andhra Pradesh) finished third.