CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu athletes shone bright and ensured a brilliant start to the 64th Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Wednesday.
Dhanalakshmi Sekar (women's) and Tamil Arasu (men's) clinched gold in their respective 100-metre finals. Pole vaulters Reegan Ganesh and Gowtham M finished with a shared gold medal in the men's pole vault finals.
Dhanalakshmi was banned for three years in 2022 for failing an out-of-competition dope test. She marked her comeback to a national senior level meet with a sensational run in the women's 100-metre final, clocking 11.36s. Young sprinter Abinaya Rajarajan, who is also from Tamil Nadu, finished second with a timing of 11.58 seconds. "I came here to create a meet record here, but I am happy with this and will aim for a better timing in the next meet," Dhanalakshmi told reporters after her run. When asked about the pressure she felt before coming to the start line, she said: "There was nervousness which I felt held me back from running 11.27-11.28 seconds."
After a tough three years or so, Dhanalakshmi felt that this event was the right platform for her to prove her doubters wrong. "I was confident that I will prove myself again. I began training last year and kept at it," Dhanalakshmi said. But it was not plain-sailing for her.
"I didn't do well in the semifinals (11.7s run). That was a minor deterrent, but it didn't impact my belief to win gold," she said.
In the men's final, Arasu made a brilliant start in a tough battle with previous national record holder Manikanta HH, 2022 inter-state 100 metres champion Amlan Borgohain and up-and-coming sprinter Harsh Raut. He felt that the increased standards set by his competitors on track has helped him evolve. "I wished the likes of Gurindervir (Singh) and Animesh (Kujur) had participated, it would have been a tough fight. Running along with the relay teammates like Amlan and Manikanta has helped me improve, too," he said. Arasu was part of the relay team in the Asian Athletics Championships in May this year.
Initially a volleyball player, Arasu took up athletics after his coaches' advice in his college days at PSG college of arts, Coimbatore. "I aimed for the national record here but I am proud to have broken the meet record (of Gurindervir 10.27s in 2021) and clinch a gold medal for the state," he said. His next target is to solidify his place in the national relay team when the Indian Open Athletics event commences next month.
Pole vaulters Gowtham and Reegan shared the top prize after a tough battle in the final. The gold medal was being shared because of them getting past the marks on their first attempts. (5.15m and 5.20m).
Reegan was aiming to jump beyond the 5.40 metre mark while Gowtham was looking to jump beyond 5.25 metres. However, both failed in their respective attempts with both returning with best efforts of 5.20 metres on the day. After consultation with the officials on whether they would like to take another attempt to clear their respective marks, both shook hands for a shared gold medal. Reegan came agonisingly close to clearing the 5.30m mark but he couldn't get a clean landing. "I couldn't keep my legs together in the landing there," Reegan said post his jump.
The 24-year-old from Thanjavur district wanted to execute whatever he worked on while training. "I was aiming for the national record of 5.35 metres, but I am happy to settle with the meet record," he added. The previous meet record was held by Tamil Nadu pole vaulter S Siva (5.11 metres). Current national record holder Dev Meena did not take part in this meet owing to personal reasons.
Earlier, Abhishek Pal from Uttar Pradesh won the gold in the men's 10,000m final with a timing of 30:56.64s, nowhere near the qualification mark for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Results (winners): Men's 10,000m: Abhishek Pal 30:56.64s; Men's pole vault: M Gowtham and Reegan G 5.20m (meet record); Women's hammer throw: Tanya Chaudhary 63.91m; Women's triple jump: Sandra Babu 13.20m; Women's 100m: Dhanalakshmi 11.36s; Men's 100m: Tamil Arasu 10.22s (meet record); Women's 5000m: Seema 15:42:64s (meet record).