Goa: Kerala girl K.T. Neena proved her mettle once again as she improved her national record and successfully defends her title from the last edition in 5,000m race walk. Neena clocked 24 minutes 11.70 secs that bettered her previous best time of 24:42.18 registered during the World Youth Championships at Donetsk, Ukraine, last year.
For the Kerala race walker winning became a habit ever since she took part in the under-16 division six years ago. Her first taste of victory arrived in the national inter-zonal championships at Panchkula in 2009.
She had won the Juniors Nationals in Warangal the same year. Neena made it to the Indian Team for Donetsk following her excellent performance under the warm sun in Guntur last year. Earlier this February, she garnered the gold medal in the junior (under-20) section in her maiden appearance in the 10 km distance at the National Open Race Walking championships at Kochi. If nurtured properly Neena would become a definitive medal prospect for the country in the global competitions.
The third and final day of the 11th National Youth Athletics championships also witnessed two meet marks being bettered at the picturesque GMC Athletics Stadium here.
Uttar Pradesh, the land of long distance runners, which produced many steeplechasers of national repute provided one more excellent athlete in Nandini Gupta as she covered the girls’ 2000m steeplechase in 7 minutes 35.71 secs.
Haryana boys improved their own state-mates’ record by just five-hundredth of a second as they timed 1:57.42 to win the medley relay.
Kerala state retained the overall champion title with a whooping 198 points while Uttar Pradesh finished runners-up with 115.5 points. In the last edition at Guntur, Kerala had a nail-biting fight with Haryana and won the championship in a thrilling 1 point margin.
Kerala also crowned the girls’ team aggregate with 151 points wherein Tamil Nadu adjudged the second position in a distant 65 points. The boys’ team trophy went to Uttar Pradesh (88.5 points) while Haryana ended up in the next position in 77 points.
Hurdlers Maymon Poulose (Kerala) and Ankita Gosavi (Maharashtra) adjudged “Best Athletes” in the boys and girls divisions respectively.
Results:
BOYS: 200m: 1. Rahul Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 22.30 secs, 2. Chandan Bauri (West Bengal) 22.52s, 3. M.S. Arun (Tamil Nadu) 22.75s; 800m: 1. Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 1:56.06, 2. Ankit Kharb (Haryana) 1:56.54, 3. Ishwar Sharan (Uttar Pradesh) 1:56.71; 400m Hurdles: 1. Aftab Alam (Maharashtra) 54.11 secs, 2. Santhosh Kumar (Tamil Nadu) 55.35s, 3. Santhoshkumar Rawan (Maharashtra) 55.86s; 2,000m Steeplechase: 1. Harbax Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6:16.15, 2. Rupesh Sharma (Madhya Pradesh) 6:18.17, 3. Neeraj Kumar (Andhra Pradesh) 6:22.40; Triple Jump: 1. Kritesh Atel (Madhya Pradesh) 14.62m, 2. Sunil (Rajasthan) 14.59m, 3. Sarang Tanwar (Haryana) 14.51m;
Discus Throw: 1. Kirti Kumar Denke (Maharashtra) 52.70m, 2. Mithra Varun (Tamil Nadu) 52.35m, 3. Dhansukh Vilas Sankhla (Rajasthan) 50.90m; Javelin Throw: 1. Neeraj Chopra (Haryana) 67.00m, 2. Rajesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 66.99m, 3. Abhishek Drall (Delhi) 65.70m;
Decathlon: 1. Bharat Pal (Haryana) 5593 points, 2. D. Dinesh (Kerala) 5317 pts, 3. Praveen Rathee (Delhi) 5314 pts; Medley Relay: 1. Haryana 1:57.42 (New Meet Record), 2. Tamil Nadu 1:58.30, 3. Uttar Pradesh 1:59.94;
GIRLS: 200m:
1. G.K. Vijayakumari (Karnataka) 26.17 secs, 2. Chandralekha (Tamil Nadu) 26.60s, 3. Anjali Johnson (Kerala) 26.66s; 800m: 1. C. Babitha (Kerala) 2:16.71, 2. Therese Joseph (Kerala) 2:17.98, 3. Oliviya Ann Maria (Kerala) 2:18.55;
400m Hurdles: 1. Smruthimol V. Rajendran (Kerala) 1:06.49, 2. R. Ragi (Kerala) 1:06.86, 3. H. Kavya (Andhra Pradesh) 1:09.05; 2,000m Steeplechase: 1. Nandini Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) 7:35.71 (New Meet Record), 2. Richa Bhaouria (Madhya Pradesh) 7:55.64, 3. P. Manju (Kerala) 7:55.80; Triple Jump: 1. Athira Surendran (Kerala) 12.39m, 2. Rochelle Maria Macfarlane (Tamil Nadu) 12.24m, 3. E.R. Ranjuka (Kerala) 11.85m; Pole Vault: 1. Mariya Jaison (Kerala) 2.90m, 2. Shani Shaji (Kerala) 2.70m, 3. Jeeva Rani (Tamil Nadu) 2.30m; 5,000m Walk: 1. K.T. Neena (Kerala) 24:11.70 (National Youth Record), 2. Vandana Patel (Uttar Pradesh) 27:38.39, 3. Ravina (Haryana) 27:44.81; Heptathlon: 1. Dibi Sebastian (Kerala) 3970 points, 2. Kanimozhi (Tamil Nadu) 3827 pts, 3. N.P. Sangeetha (Kerala) 3734 pts; Medley Relay: 1. Kerala 2:20.65, 2. Tamil Nadu 2:21.09, 3. West Bengal 2:26.23
Team Championships:
Overall Winners – Kerala 198 points, Runners-up: Uttar Pradesh 115.5 points; BOYS division Winners – Uttar Pradesh 88.5 points, Runners-up: Haryana 77 pts;
GIRLS division Winners – Kerala 151 points, Runners-up: Tamil Nadu 65 pts.