AFI Media
Patiala, February 25: Amoj Jacob (Delhi) came up with a personal best time of 46.00 seconds to win the men’s 400m in the Indian Grand Prix II at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports here on Thursday. In improving on the 46.26 he clocked in June 2017, he showed a smart recovery from the injury that forced him to hobble out of the race in Grand Prix I last week.
Two of his relay squad team-mates, Arokia Rajiv (Tamil Nadu) and Muhammed Anas Yahiya (Kerala), were locked in a fascinating contest over the 200m sprint – part of their overall preparations. Arokia Rajiv defeated Anas, who holds the National Record, by 0.20 seconds, with a time of 21.24 seconds.
Kerala’s M Sreeshankar, competing in his first national-level Long Jump competition since October 2019, produced a best leap of 8.05m on his sixth try. He would have been pleased with his rhythm that fetched him jumps between 7.75m and 7.87m and egged by that, he went over the 8m mark to have a promising start to the season.
In the men’s Shot Put, Tajinderpal Singh’s opening effort of 19.49m was good for gold but he would have expected to throw farther in his subsequent tries. Each of his two foul throws was followed by 19.31m and 19.33m while the 18.95m put on his fourth try would have disappointed him the most.
Javelin Thrower Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh), seeking Olympic qualifying mark of 64.00m, wound herself up and delivered a 61.22m throw with her opening effort. She followed that up with two throws over the 60m mark. She will draw much confidence from her showing here and will look to qualify for to the Tokyo Olympics rather than bank on her ranking as World No. 12.
Sprinter Dutee Chand blazed the track to win the women;s 100m in 11.44 seconds, an improvement on the 11.51 seconds she clocked last week. She is hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games by meeting the 11.15 seconds standard but will also keep an eye on conforming a place among the 56 starters in Tokyo on the basis of her ranking as World No. 33 at the moment.
In the 200m, Hima Das (Assam) made light of the absence of much competition to win in 23.31 seconds. She has run faster only three times, twice in 2018 when she had times of 23.10 In the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Guwahati and 23.22 in Gliwic Grand Prix in Poland and once in 2019 when she clocked 23.25 in Velká cena Tábora in Tabor, Czech Republic.
The results:
Men
100m: 1. Krishnakumar Satish Rane (Maharashtra) 10.71 seconds; 2. Amiya Kumar Mallick (Odisha) 10,74; 3. Amit Tiwari (Delhi) 10.81.
200m: 1. S Arokia Rajiv (Tamil Nadu) 21.24 seconds; 2. Muhammed Anas Yahiya (Kerala) 21.44; 3. Ashok Kumar (Punjab) 21.80.
400m: 1. Amoj Jacob (Delhi) 46.00 seconds; 2. Sarthak Bhambri (Delhi) 47.12; 3. Angrej Singh (Haryana) 47.32.
1500m: 1. Ajay Kumar Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3 minutes 44.31 seconds; 2. Rahul (Delhi) 3:45.98; 3. Ajeet Kumar (Gujarat) 3:51.30.
Long Jump: 1. M Sreeshankar (Kerala) 8.05m; 2. Yugan Shekhar Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 7.85; 3. Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Kerala) 7.76.
Shot Put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) 19.49m; 2. Sahib Singh (Delhi) 17.69; 3. Amandeep Singh Dhaliwal (Punjab) 16.96.
Javelin Throw: 1. Sahil Silwal (Haryana) 77.40m; 2. Rohit Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 77.33; 3. Manu DP (Karnataka) 75.28.
Women
100m: 1. Dutee Chand (Odisha) 11.44 seconds; 2. AT Daneshwari (Karnataka) 11.89; 3. Diandra Dudley Valladares (Maharashtra) 11.92.
200m: 1, Hima Das (Assam) 23.31 seconds; 2. Simrandeep Kaur (Delhi) 24.91.
400m: 1. MR Poovamma (Karnataka) 53.60 seconds; 2. Kiran Pahal (Haryana) 54.88; 3. Subha Venkatesan (Tamil Nadu) 55.29.
1500m: 1. Chanda (Delhi) 4 minutes 15.54 seconds; 2, PU Chitra (Kerala) 4:20.98; 3. Lili Das (West Bengal) 4:21.32.
400m Hurdles: 1. R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 59.49 seconds; 2. Nanhi (Haryana) 1:00.13; 2. Salini V Krishna (Kerala) 1:00.44.
Shot Put: 1. Srishthi Vig (Delhi) 15.46m; 2. Kachnar Chaudhary (Rajasthan) 14.15; 3. Tulnai Narzary (Assam) 13.95.
Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 61.22m; 2. Sanjana Choudhary (Rajasthan) 53.27; 3. Sharmila Kumari (Haryana) 50.93.
