KOCHI: The third day of the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition was more sedate than the first two where national and meet records were set. On Wednesday there was just one record in seven finals. Quartermile champion R Vithya Ramraj of Tamil Nadu touched the finish line in 400m hurdles way before her opponents in a meet record time of 56.04s. This is also her personal best.
National camper Vithya also attained the qualification mark for Asian Athletic championship to be held in Gwen, South Korea, next month. She bettered the meet record of 57.21s set by Sarita Ben Gaykwad in Patiala in 2019. Kerala’s Anu R, who had a patchy start, could not pull off a competitive performance and finished second with a timing of 58.26s. "My mindset have become stronger than before and that is the improvement that I have managed. Initially I only wanted to push in the first 100m, then got carried away by it until the end,” said Vithya on her impressive performance.
Women’s triple jump was an intense competition between National Games gold medalist Niharika Vashisht of Punjab and JSW’s Kerala athlete Sandra Babu. Sandra, who jumped 13.42m only in her second attempt, was leading until almost the end and even improved her distance to 13.48m in her fifth attempt. But Niharika, who trailed Sandra in the five jumps, landed a 13.48m in her sixth attempt, an effort that propelled her to the title. Niharika had been constantly improving her personal best in every competition since her National Games win in February. “Even though my technique and jump were always good, my run up was a weak point. I used to lose a lot of speed during the start but am improving on that with the help of a sprint coach,” said Niharika after her narrow win.
At the same time Sandra is just happy as she achieved a bonus silver, while her main focus lies on Thursday’s long jump event. “The coach had asked me to only take three attempts and not exert myself too much as my main event is long jump. I could not afford an injury before that. Therefore I am really happy with what I could achieve,” said Sandra, who will hit the track again on Thursday. Kerala's Sheena K V won the bronze in the event.
Meanwhile, Yashas P of Karnataka, who bagged gold in 400m hurdles, was disappointed that he couldn't cut the Asian qualification mark. “There was no competition at all, that's why I missed the mark,” he said as he finished at 49.32s while the qualification time was 49.19s. Silver medalist Subhas Das, representing JSW, only finished at 50.11s.
In other finals, Damneet Singh representing Reliance Sports won gold in men’s hammer throw (63.30m). In men’s 3000m steeplechase Sunil Joliya Jinabhai of Gujarat won by finishing at 8:43:82s. In women’s 3000m steeplechase, Manju Ajay Yadav of Madhya Pradesh finished the first at 10:34:08s and Vidhi of Uttar Pradesh bagged the gold in women’s shot put.
The event at Maharajas College Stadium in Kochi ends on Thursday with 13 finals. The highlights would be 200m men and women sprints, 800m men and women, triple jump men and long jump women where top athletes like Olympian Praveen Chitravel and long jumper Shaili Singh will be competing.
Day three results
Men: 3000m steeplechase (Asian Q 8:39.17): Sunil J Jinabhai (Guj) 8:43.82s, Vikram Singh (Army) 8:44.30s, Rohit Verma (Haryana) 8:44.80s; 400m hurdles (Asian Q 49.19s): Yashas P (Kar) 49.32s, Subhas Das (JSW) 50.11s, Ruchit Mori (Guj) 51.08s; Hammer (Asian Q 71.80m): Damneet Singh (Rel) 68.30m, Praveen Kumar (Raj) 63.84, Gurdev Singh (Pun) 60.78m. Women: 400m hurdles (Asian Q 57.80s); Vithya Ramraj (TN) 56.04s (MR. previous: 57.21s), Anu R (Ker) 58.26s, Ashwini R (TN) 1:02.41s; 3000m steeplechase (Asian Q 9:48.48s): Manju Ajay Yadav (MP) 10:34.08, Nikita (Raj) 10:51.96, Chanchal (Har) 11:10.40; Triple jump (Asian Q 13.68m): Niharika Vashisht (Pun) 13:49m, Sandra Babu (JSW) 13:48m, Sheena NV (Ker) 13:25m; Shot put (Asian Q 16.89m): Vidhi (UP) 16:10m, Srishti Vig (Del) 16.06m, Shiksha (Har) 16.05m.