Athletics

One-two: Rajesh Ramesh, right, the men’s 400m gold medallist, with silver winner Ajmal.
| Photo Credit: Stan Rayan

Good news: Amiya Kumar Mallick had to endure a long wait before being announced the men’s 100m champion.
| Photo Credit:
Stan Rayan

An easy one: Srabani Nanda won the women’s 100m comfortably.
| Photo Credit:
Stan Rayan

On top: National javelin throw record holder Annu Rani, back from Germany where she now trains, was experimenting with her technique and won the gold comfortably.
| Photo Credit:
Stan Rayan

RANCHI

“He is almost out,” said star quartermiler Amoj Jacob as he gave support to a wobbly Rajesh Ramesh after the men’s 400m final of the 26th Federation Cup athletics at the Birsa Munda Stadium here on Tuesday.

Rajesh had indeed given it his all, shocking National record-holder Muhammed Anas and Muhammed Ajmal to take the title with a personal best of 45.75s (previous best: 46.09s) and become the Indian leader in the quartermile this year.

“I expected a personal best but I thought it would be something like 45.90s. This is a big surprise,” said the 24-year-old from Tamil Nadu who pulled the second-placed Ajmal to a personal best too. Anas was third.

The day was packed with controversy, suspense and long wait. Priya Mohan, who finished second in the women’s 400m behind Aishwarya Mishra, was declared the winner. Aishwarya won the race comfortably in 52.57s but Priya filed a successful protest, claiming that the Maharashtra runner had cut the lane in the race.

“She (Aishwarya) cut the lane in the second corner,” said Priya, who fought hard to stave off a strong challenge from Sonia Baishya, and nearly one and half hours after the race, the verdict came in her favour and Aishwarya was disqualified.

There was much controversy after the men’s 100m too and the results were out only around 40 minutes after the final. “No one knew what was happening, I think the photo-finish camera was not working,” said Amiya, who had to wait long before being declared winner.

“One athlete said that he couldn’t hear the gun.”

Srabani Nanda, who landed in India from her training base in Jamaica just three days ago, made the trip memorable by producing a season-best 11.57s for the women’s 100m gold in a season-best time.

Meanwhile national javelin throw record holder Annu Rani experimented with a few things as she picked an easy gold in with a last-round effort of 59.24m in her season-opener.

“My coach (German Werner Daniels) had changed a lot of things, my technique and everything… and this is my season-opener too, so I took this as a sort of training competition,” said Ammu whose personal best is 63.82m. “We are focusing on the World Championships (in Budapest, August).”

Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the national shot put record holder, picked an easy gold with 20.42m. All his four legal throws were over 20m.

The results:

Men: 100m: Amiya Kumar Mallick (Odi) 10.31s, 2. K. Elakkiyadasan (TN) 10.37, 3. Dondapati Jayaram (Odi) 10.40; 400m: 1. Rajesh Ramesh (TN) 45.75s, 2. Muhammed Ajmal (Ker) 45.85, 3. Muhammed Anas (46.19); 1,500m: 1. Jinson Johnson (Ker) 3:44.43s, 2. Abhishek Singh Thakur (MP) 3:45.32, 3. Rahul (Del) 3:45.72; High jump: 1. Sarvesh Anil (Mah) 2.22m, 2. Jesse Sandesh (Kar) 2.18, 3. Swadhin Kumar Majhi (Odi) 2.11; Long jump: 1. P. David (TN) 7.75m, 2. Muhammed Anees (Ker) 7.73), 3. R. Samuel (TN) 7.59; Shot put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Pun) 20.42m, 2. Sahib Singh (Del) 19.23, 3. Karanveer Singh (Pun) 19.05.

Women: 100m: 1. Srabani Nanda (Odi) 11.57s, 2. Archana Suseendran (TN) 11.66, 3. A.T. Daneswari (Kar) 11.69; 400m: 1. Priya H. Mohan (Kar) 53.40s, 2. Sonia Baishya (WB) 53.42, 3. Florence Barla (Jha) 53.76; 1,500m: 1. Ankita (Utkd) 4:16.99s, 2. Chanda (Del) 4:17.55, 3. Pooja (Har) 4:20.03; Triple jump: 1. Poorva H. Sawant (Mah) 13.27m, 2. Mallala Anusha (AP) 13.11, 3. Karthika Gothandapani (AP) 13.11; Javelin: 1. Annu Rani (UP) 59.24m, 2. Uma Choudhary (Raj) 51.15, 3. Shilpa Rani (Har) 50.87; Shot put: 1. Abha Khatua (Mah) 16.57m, 2. Manpreet Kaur (Har) 16.57), 3. Paramjot Kaur (Pun) 15.79.