Om Prakash Singh competing in the 2009 Indian Senior Inter-State Champs (© Ram. Murali Krishnan)
One sport's loss is another's gain. Shot putter Om Prakash Singh had come a long way leaving basketball behind to become a shot putter of some repute. He joined a select club of Indian athletes in the 20m sector by tossing out a 20.02m performance at the National Inter-State Senior Championships which concluded here on Saturday evening (24).
Only two other Indian shotputters, Shakti Singh (20.60) and Bahadur Singh Sagoo (20.40), have achieved the distinction of going beyond 20m.
Born in Gurgaon, near Delhi, Om Prakash Singh (22) stands taller at 6'-7" (2.04m) than his fellow shot putters. He switched to athletics five years ago and immediately became the national junior champion in 2005. The next year he received his first international exposure at the World Junior championships in Beijing. He won a silver medal in the Asian Indoor Championships at Doha in 2008 and won the Kunshan leg of the Asian Grand Prix meets earlier this year.
Having completed a Bachelor's degree in Arts at Malwa College in Bhatinda, he joined the government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission as an officer and also currently studying a Master's degree in Business Administration. Om Prakash is all set to win a medal at the ensuing Asian Championships at Guangzhou next month. Saudi Arabia's Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi with a 21.13m bronze medal throw in Doha Super Grand Prix this May looks to be the only threat to the Indian athlete. However Prakash remained confident and is aiming high with medals at Asian and Commonwealth Games next year.
A couple of jumpers
Triple jumper Maheswary Renjith and woman pole vaulter Vazhipali Suresh Surekha have married recently. The couple grabbed the attention of the fans when they entered the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium together on Friday evening to take part in their respective events.
Renjith and Surekha are the current national record-holders in their events and everyone anxiously looked for new marks when they took their run-ups concurrently on either side of the arena. Renjith, the reigning Asian champion with a wind-aided 17.19m at Amman two years ago, has been on the injury list for a short period before bouncing back at the Open Nationals in Bhopal at the beginning of this month. Although he aimed to better his legal best and national mark of 17.04m here, a bumpy runway prevented him and he had to be satisfied with the day's best of 16.73.
On the other side, Surekha started her attempts when other competitors left the field in 3.30m. Like her husband, Surekha also looked to improve her national best of 4.08m, but an upset stomach halted her way at 3.95m. The couple however went home with the satisfaction of bettering the meet marks.
Kerala to the fore
Time and again the state of Kerala has won these championships, and it was no different this year either, taking the overall victoyr ahead of the mighty Punjab and the newly emerging Jharkhand. Kerala won the men, women and overall championships with a tally of 12 gold, 4 silver and 13 bronze medals.
The athletes from the "champion state" won six gold medals on the final day. Its woman athlete M A Prajusha added the Triple Jump gold to her Long Jump title, which she won on the opening day, while Chatholi Hamza extended his winning streak in the men's 1500m. In the absence of country's leading heptathletes, Kerala's K D Sindhu won her maiden national title. Besides this Kerala athletes also took three of the four relay golds.
To cap it all, the state's hurdler-exponent Joseph G Abraham was adjudged as the "best athlete" among men. The above honour in women's section went to quarter-miler Manjit Kaur. The remarkable punjab girl has held the national mark in the 400m (51.05) since 2004 and ran a splendid race on Saturday evening to gain a berth in the Guangzhou-bound team.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Leading Results:
MEN:
200m (23) [0.4]:
1. S Arunjith (Ker) 21.38; 2. M Manikandaraj (TN) 21.76; 3. C G Anas (Ker) 21.92;
400m (24):
1. S K Mortaja (Ben) 46.66; 2. Harpreet Singh (Pun) 46.86; 3.
1,500m (24):
1. Chatholi Hamza (Ker) 3:41.62; 2. Sunil Kumar (Har) 3:46.70; 3. P Ebinezer (TN) 3:46.76;
10,000m (24):
1. Surendra Singh (Utk) 29:47.59; 2. Suresh Kumar (Utk) 30:08.42; 3. B C Tilak (Mah) 30:14.61;
3,000m Steeplechase (23):
1. Elam Singh (Utk) 8:43.89; 2. Jaibir Singh (Mah) 8:47.53; 3. Pritam Bind (Utk) 8:52.57;
Triple Jump (23):
1. M Renjith (Ker) 16.73/0.0; 2. Amarjeet Singh (Jhar) 15.99/0.0; 3. Malkiat Singh (Pun) 15.59/1.1;
Shot Put (24):
1. Omprakash Singh (Har) 20.02; 2. Saurabh Vij (Del) 18.88; 3. Satyendrakumar Singh (Jhar) 17.90;
Discus Throw (23):
1. Prabhjot Singh (Pun) 52.17; 2. Amritpal Singh (Jhar) 51.30; 3. Gurpreet Singh (Pun) 49.96;
Hammer Throw (24):
1. Madhu Kumar (Har) 63.43; 2. Pargat Singh (Pun) 61.02; 3. Shiv Kumar (Utk) 60.47;
4 x 100m (24):
1. Kerala 40.50; 2. Tamil Nadu 41.30; 3. Andhra Pradesh 42.40;
4 x 400m (24):
1. Kerala 3:10.80; 2. Madhya Pradesh 3:11.46; 3. Punjab 3:14.35;
WOMEN:
200m (23) [-0.3]:
1. K Soujanya (AP) 24.33; 2. H M Jyothi (AP) 24.48; 3. Satti Geetha (AP) 24.71;
400m (24):
1. Manjit Kaur (Pun) 52.74; 2. Mandeep Kaur (Pun) 53.02; 3. Sini Jose (Ker) 53.69;
1,500m (24):
1. Sushma Devi (Del) 4:19.14; 2. S R Bindu (Ker) 4:21.10; 3. Sinimol Paulose (Jhar) 4:22.87;
10,000m (24):
1. Kavita Raut (Mah) 34:27.62; 2. L Surya (TN) 35:57.60; 3. Preeti L Rao (Jhar) 36:03.33;
3,000m Steeplechase (23):
1. Sudha Singh (UP) 10:21.88; 2. Kiran Tiwari (MP) 10:40.10; Rajshree Patil (Mah) 10:51.14;
High Jump (23):
1. Sahana Kumari (Jhar) 1.82; 2. Kavya Muthanna (Jhar) 1.76; 3. Mallika Mondal (Ben) 1.73;
Pole Vault (23):
1. V S Surekha (TN) 3.95; 2. S Saranya (TN) 3.30; 3. R Jisha (Ker) 3.30;
Triple Jump (24):
1. M A Prajusha (Ker) 13.15/0.4; 2. G Gayathri (TN) 12.93/-0.4; 3. Tessymol Joseph (Ker) 12.87/0.7;
Hammer Throw (23):
1. Sukanya Mishra (UP) 56.96; 2. Seema Jakhar (Har) 54.31; 3. Usma Daryan (UP) 53.57;
Javelin Throw (24):
1. S Saraswathy (TN) 52.84; 2. Suman Devi (UP) 49.10; 3. Megha Pardeshi (Mah) 47.83;
Heptathlon (24):
1. K D Sindhu (Ker) 4882; 2. Navpreet Kaur (Pun) 4729; 3. Liksy Joseph (Ker) 4595;
20,000m Walk (23):
1. Deepmala Devi (Jhar) 1:47:29.69; 2. Supriya Adak (Mah) 1:52:59.61; 3. K J Sandhya (Ker) 1:54:38.83;
4 x 100m (24):
1. Andhra Pradesh 46.39; 2. Tamil Nadu 46.69; 3. Kerala 47.30;
4 x 400m (24):
1. Kerala 3:42.67; 2. Andhra Pradesh 3:45.28; 3. Tamil Nadu 3:52.46;
Click here for RESULTS
