News31 Jul 2010


Locals provide the highlights as Asian All-Star meeting tests Commonwealth Games track

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Tintu Luka takes an impressive 400/800m double at the 2010 Indian national championships (© Organisers)

The field was thin and the performances low-key, though the newly-reconstructed Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in this Capital city provided an excellent setting for some Asian athletes to showcase their form and talent in the Asian All-Star meet here on Thursday (29) and Friday (30).

Delhi is getting ready to host the Commonwealth Games in October and this meet was a test event for the bigger Games apart from this being an opportunity for some of the home athletes to display their improvement and readiness for the two multi-discipline Games ahead. The Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, follows the Commonwealth Games.

An outstanding performance came from long jumper Mayookha Johny who jumped a personal best 6.64me while winning the title. Coming back from a leg injury that had forced her to miss the entire 2009 season, Mayookha had been performing incredibly this season.

Her jump from 6.49m at Bangalore to the present makes Mayookha the third best Indian jumper in the all-time lists behind Anju B. George (6.83m) and J. J. Shobha (6.66m). This was her fourth jump over 6.40m this season and it should give her a lot of confidence in her preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

Another creditable performance was that of Tintu Luka in the women’s 800m. The talented Indian, from the stable of P. T. Usha, yesteryear’s Asian sprint champion, clocked a career-best 2:01.24 in the two-lapper, running the whole race from the front.

The 21-year-old Kerala woman had timed 2:01.61 in the National Championship in Kochi earlier this year and her slight improvement pleased coach Usha. Both felt that with a tougher field she could have improved further. Sinimole Paulose came second in 2:04.58 and later won the 1500m in 4:19.00.

In the events that the Indians won - and there were six of them - the home athletes had very little opposition from abroad. To a limited extent, the men’s Triple Jump provided a contest with Indian Renjith Maheswary winning with a last-round jump of 16.74m.

Evgeniy Ektov (16.69m) and Roman Valiyev (16.67m) had to be contend with the silver and bronze even though the former looked to have the gold in his grasp with his second-round jump till the Indian came up with his best in the last round.

Maheswary had already touched 17 metres this season and said he was not happy with his performance.

Another Indian who did well was shot putter Om Prakash Singh who won with a 19.74m effort. The Asian champion, training in Finland for over a month, returned home, hoping to compete in elite company, but found only his countrymen in the fray.

“I am nowhere near my best form, but I am in no hurry,” said Om Prakash. He added that it could take around 20.50m to get a medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Among the foreigners, Japanese Koike Takayuki was an impressive winner in the men’s 400m hurdles. The Japanese, No. 3 in the season lists in the continent with his 49.42s in Osaka in May, caught up with Indian Joseph Abraham coming into the home bend, and took over on the final hurdle to clock 50.08 seconds.

Abraham, who was one of the two Indian athletes chosen yesterday to receive the highest National sports award (Arjuna Award), timed 50.87 for the silver and said that he should have won had he run a more calculated race, but he also praised the 25-year-old Japanese.

Among women, it was Uzbek Guzel Khubbieva who stood out, with her effortless victory in the 100m in 11.63.

Athletes from the central Asian republics also expectedly dominated the women’s High Jump with Nadezhda Dusanova of Uzbekistan winning at 1.95m and Anna Ustionova (1.93m) of Kazakhstan and Svetlana Radzivil (1.88m) of Uzbekistan taking the minor medals.

Krishna Poonia, the other Indian athlete to be picked for the National award on Friday, won the discus title without much ado with 60.93m. The discus circle had come in for some comments from Vikas Gowda the previous day because of its polished surface, but Poonia made light of the handicap.

Gowda could manage only 54.39m while the enthusiasts were expecting the US-based Indian to come close to the 62-63-metre mark.

Manjula Kumara Wijesekara of Sri Lanka (2.21m in High Jump), Anastasiya Sopurnova of Kazakhstan (13.66 in women’s 100m Hurdles), Jauna Murmu of India (57.39s in 400m Hurdles) were some of the others who came up with satisfying performances.

The British Sports Minister, Jeremy Hunt, inaugurated the two-day meet in the presence of Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Olympic Games Organising Committee, IAAF Vice President and IOC member.

By an IAAF Correspondent

Leading Results -
Men -
100m: 1. Shehan Abepitiyage (Sri) 10.49, 2. Chi Ho Tsui (Hkg) 10.50, 3. Lai Chun Ho (Hkg) 10.63.
400m: 1.Sajjad Hashemi (Iri) 46.77, 2. Reza Bouzar (Iri) 46.88, 3. P. Kunhumohammad (Ind) 47.12.
800m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Ind) 1:48.92, 2. Ghamnda Ram (Ind) 1:50.25, 3. Abdul Haris (Ina) 1:50.78.
1500m: 1. Chaminda Indika Wijekoon (Sri) 3:43.88, 2. Artyom Kossininov (Kaz) 3:44.97, 3. Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:48.03.
5,000m: 1. Sandeep Kumar Bathum  (Ind)14:15.50, Ajay Kumar Patel (Ind) 14:17.72, Agus Prayogo (Ina) 14:22.60.
110m hurdles: 1. Jumrut Rittidet (Tha) 13.88, 2. Fawaz Al-Shammari (Kuw) 13.89, 3. Hassan  Mat (Mas) 14.61.
400m hurdles: 1. Koike Takayuki (Jpn) 50.08, 2. Joseph Abraham (Ind) 50.87, 3. Avin Thomas (Ind) 50.89.
High jump: 1. Manjula Kumara Wijesekara (Sri) 2.21, 2.Vitaliy Tsykuonov (Kaz) 2.18, 3. Hari Sankar Roy (Ind) 2.15.
Long jump: 1. Ankit Sharma (Ind) 7.61, 2. Maha Singh (Ind) 7.50, 3. Hari Krishna (Ind) 7.50.
Triple jump: 1. Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.74, 2. Yevgeniy Ektov (Kaz) 16.69, 3. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.67.
Shot put: 1. Om Prakash (Ind) 19.74, 2. Saurabh Vij (Ind) 19.09, 3. Nifkar Amin (Iri) 18.65.
Discus: 1. Vikas Gowda (Ind) 54.39, 2. Arjun Singh (Ind) 47.54, 3. Arpinder Singh (Ind) 47.22.
Javelin: 1. Rinat Tarzumanov (Uzb) 77.48, 2. Kashinath Naik (Ind) 74.21, 3. Samarjeet Singh (Ind) 72.49.

Women -
100m: 1. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.63, 2. Maki Wada (Jpn) 11.87, 3. Yulia Gavrilova (Kaz) 11.91.
400m: Mandeep Kaur (Ind) 52.29, 2. Juliya Gavrilova (Kaz) 52.93, 3. Jauna Murmu (Ind) 53.17.
800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Ind) 2:01.24, 2. Sinimole Paulose (Ind)  2:04.58, 3. Jinnouchi Ayako (Jpn) 2:05.51.
 1500m: 1. SinimolePaulose (Ind) 4:19.00, 2. Ekaterina Tunguskova (Uzb) 4:26.01, Javeri Leila Ibrahimimo (Iri) 4:34.11.
5000m: 1. Triyaningsih(Ina)16:24.12, 2. Sitora Khamidova (Uzb) 16:51.08, 3. Ekaterina Tunguskova (Uzb) 17:37.25.
100m hurdles: 1. Anastasiya Sopurnova (Kaz) 13.66, 2. Gayathri Govindaraj (Ind) 13.82, 3. Anastasiya Proshkina (Uzb) 13.84.
400m hurdles: 1. Jauna Murmu (Ind) 57.39, 2. Natalya Asanova (Uzb) 59.17, 3. Thi Bac Nguyen (Ind) 60.64.
High jump: 1. Nadezdah Dusanova (Uzb) 1.95, 2. Anna Ustionva (Kaz) 1.93, 3. Svetlana Radzivil (Uzb) 1.88.
Long jump: 1. Mayookha Johny (Ind) 6.64, 2. Yuliya Tarasova (Uzb) 6.49, 3. M. A. Prajusha (Ind) 6.30.
Triple jump: 1. Anna Bodorenko (Kaz) 13.50, 2. Alexandro Kotlyarenko (Uzb) 13.49, 3. Prajusha M. A. (Ind) 13.42.
Shot put: 1. Yang Yanbo (Chn) 16.65, 2. Safiya Burkhanova (Uzb) 16.06, 3. Liu Jing (Chn) 15.14.
 Discus: 1. Krishna Poonia (Ind) 60.93, 2. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 58.73, 3. Seema Antil (Ind) 54.21.

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