AFI Media
Chandigarh
The 2018 Jakarta Asian Games 1500m champion, Jinson Johnson, was excited to have posted a season best time of 3:39.32 seconds for 1500m (Race B) ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Sunday at the newly constructed eight-lane 400m track at Sector 7 Sports Complex.
Kerala’s 32 years old Olympian on a comeback trail race in Race B and said, the IGP was good chance for him to test his skills. “The track was fast. The weather was good. I didn’t let the opportunity slip from my hand. I pushed hard in the last lap to dip below 3:40 seconds,” the Olympian said.
Johnson and Ajay Kumar Saroj will represent India at the Hangzhou Asian Games starting September 23. The athletics competition will commence September 29. Saroj’s season best is 3:38.24 seconds.
Johnson’s personal best of 3:35.24, a national record was clocked in 2019 in Berlin. The 2016 Rio Olympian said he was happy to have regained his lost form. “Good performance on Sunday has further given a big boost to my confidence,” he added.
Sunday also proved to be a good day for Delhi’s star 400m runner Amoj Jacob whose winning time was 45.92 seconds.
In women 400m Tamil Nadu’s R Vithya Ramraj dominated the women’s quarter-mile. She posted a time of 52.40 seconds, a personal best. “I was mentally prepared to win the race. I’m happy to have achieved my goal,” Vithaya said.
The women’s 400m event saw as many as 10 athletes, including six in Race A dip below 54 seconds.
Asian 100m hurdles champion Jyothi Yarraji, also tested her speed endurance over the 400m for the first time. She clocked 53.91 seconds to finish sixth in the Race. “The race was mentally taxing for me,” Jyothi said of her experience.
Results
Women: 100m: Srabani Nanda (Odisha) 11.77 secs, Nithya Gandhe (Telangana) 11.85 secs, Daneshwari AT (Karnataka) 11.94 secs.
400m: R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 52.40 secs, Subha Venkatesan (Tamil Nadu) 52.57 secs, Prachi (UP) 53.01 secs.
Shot put: Abha Khatua (Maharashtra) 18.02m, Kiran Baliyan (UP) 17.92m, Manpreet Kaur (Haryana) 16.03m.
Men
100m: Harjit Singh (Punjab) 10.55 secs, Amlan Borgohain (Assam) 10.57 secs, Siva Kumar B 10.61 secs (Tamil Nadu)
400m: Amoj Jacob (Delhi) 45.92 seconds, Noah Nirmal Tom (Kerala) 46.55 secs, Nihal Joel (Karnataka) 46.76 secs.
1500m: Jinson Johnson (Kerala) 3:39.32 secs, Rahul (Delhi) 3:39.83 secs, Abhinandh Sundaresan (Kerala) 3:44.36 secs
5000m: Abhishek Pal (UP) 14:24.32, Anuj Mathur (Delhi) 14:26. 32, Ravi Kumar (Delhi) 14:37.75.
High jump: Jesse Sandesh (Karnataka) 2.11m, Swadhian Kumar Majhi (Odisha) 2.06m, Nikhil Das (Odisha) 1.95m.
Javelin throw: Kishore Kumar Jena (Odisha) 82.53m, Vikas Yadav (UP) 72.88m, Harish Kumar (Rajasthan) 71.78m.
