RANCHI: Teenager Nitin Gupta, who finished the men's 10,000 metre race walk final on top, was disqualified for violating rules in the National Senior Athletics Federation competition at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium on Saturday.
Therefore, veteran and two-time Olympian Sandeep Kumar (39:51.95) was promoted to first position, with Servin Sebastian (40:23.22) being promoted to second spot.
Along with Nitin, Uttarakhand's Sachin Bohra was also disqualified. While Nithin was removed as per Rule 6.2 (giving or receiving assistance from other athletes), Bohra was disqualified under rule 6.3.1 (Pacing and unsportsmanlike conduct) and 54.10.8 (Race walking disqualification) of the World Athletic's technical rules.
A jury which looked into the protest, submitted by Kumar, convened for a meeting at 6pm on the same day. The Athletics Federation of India's (AFI) announced the final result on their official website.
Kumar, 40, had alleged that Gupta was offered water more than once at different parts of the course, rather than taking it from the designated water point. There were also allegations of gaining advantage by having three athletes — who later did not finish the race — block Kumar from gaining ground over Nitin.
PB for Krishna
Chennai's Krishna Jayasankar shone at the women's shot put final, throwing a personal best mark of 17.35m. However, she missed out on the Commonwealth Games qualification mark by 30 centimetres. Earlier, on Day 1, Krishna had won bronze in the women's discus throw final with a mark of 55.00m.
Pole vault woes
The pole vault event in the men's decathlon, which commenced at 9.40 am, ended by 1.15 pm. Generally a pole vault final takes around two hours, but due to outdated equipment, the session dragged on for over three hours in extreme heat.
Gokul KR of the Navy finished on top with a mark of 4.40m. National Record holder in decathlon Tejaswin Shankar finished fourth, with a mark of 4.20m.
One of the reasons why it dragged on was because of the time-consuming method in setting the bar. In an era where pole vault bars are set within minutes, officials here were seen measuring the mark on a tape. They could be seen matching the tape with the bar and adjusting the bar holders accordingly. To add to their woes, the officials had to keep adjusting the marks for different athletes. This made measuring the mark quite and placing the bar a tedious job.
This delay continued in the women's pole vault final, but this time it was slightly better. Milber Russel, pole vault coach, felt that this would impact pole vaulters' momentum. "In international events, it takes only a switch to change the mark and adjust the bar," he said.
With the men's pole vault final taking place on Sunday, athletes and coaches would be hopeful that this would not impact them adversely.