KOZHIKODE: Clinching her second gold in this edition of the State School Athletic Meet, Jisna Mathew, a student of legend P T Usha, is eyeing for a rare accolade of bagging triple gold for the consecutive three years. So far, on the second day of the meet, Jisna have two gold in her kitty in the 100m and 400m races with setting national records in 400m and meet record in 100m. Once again, the athlete from the high ranges of Kannur district is proving that she is on the way of Olympian Tintu Luka, international athlete from Usha School. On Monday, the third day of the meet, Jisna will compete in 200m race. Her coach Usha and her fellow athletes with Usha School are expecting gold with record in this event too along with a confident Jisna. “Unlike 200m and 400m races, 100m event is very aggressive and Jisna won it with meet record. This instils confidence in her to perform with record in 200m,” said P T Usha. She added that two of her wards-- Jisna and Shaharbana-- finished first and second in senior girls 100m race as expected.
Jisna had won three gold and a silver at the Thiruvananthapuram meet last year. She also emerged to be the individual champion in her category with three easy gold in Junior Girls 100m, 200m and 400m and the 4X100m relay gave her a silver. Besides, she broke Tintu Luka’s meet record of 56.41 seconds from 2005 with a 56.04 in junior girls 400m at the capital city. Here also she set a national record in 400m with clocking 53.87 sec. “I am competing with time,” said Jisna, who maintained a clear lead against her rival Shaharbana in the 100m race adding that lack of strong opponents never affected her fighting spirit. Jisna, a plus-one student with AMHS Poovambayi, has commenced her gold haul from the recently concluded National Junior Athletic Meet at Ranchi. She has been training at Usha School for the past 5 years.