Thenjipalam: Kerala won the silver medal in the 25th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championship held at Calicut University Stadium yesterday.
Mohammad Afzal won the men’s 800m, Sandra Babu the women’s triple jump and Marina George the silver in the women’s heptathlon. Afzal, who finished first in the men’s 800m, won the gold with a time of 2 milliseconds. Afzal finished in 1 minute 47.45 seconds and Haryana’s Krishan Kumar in 1 minute 47.43 seconds. Krishan overtook Afzal, who had taken the lead in the last 300 meters, in the 50 meter jump. Afzal said he was under the impression that he had won the gold and did not know where Krishna had finally jumped. One minute 46.02 seconds is the best performance of Afzal’s career. Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand won the bronze in 1 minute 48.25 seconds. In the triple jump, Sandra won silver with a jump of 12.98 meters. Sandra had won bronze in the long jump the previous day. Karthika Kodandapani of Tamil Nadu won the gold with a jump of 13.14 meters. Tamil Nadu’s S jumped 12.92 meters. Nandini won the bronze. Sandra missed two chances. In the fourth jump Sandra secured the silver.
In the women’s heptathlon, Marina won silver with 2283 points. Marina won silver with 5249 points. Gold is the dream burman. Tamil Nadu’s national champion and national record holder in men ‘s pole vault. Shiva was disappointed. Siva, who set a national record of 5.30m and a meet of 5.16m, was able to share the gold but could not cross the 5m. Shiva said he was disappointed with the performance. Shiva said the run was not good on all five occasions. Shiva was sharing gold with Gokulnath, a local. In the men’s discus throw, Punjab’s Kripal Singh won gold with a meet record. The throwing distance is 61.83 meters. Kripal broke Anil Kumar’s 22-year-old record of 59.55 meters.
The record was thrown on the fourth attempt. Kripal also qualified for the Asian Games. Haryana’s Prashant Malik won silver and Rajasthan’s Amit Kumar won bronze.
In the women’s 800 meters, K.A. Chanda qualifies for Asian Games Chanda won the gold in two minutes, 02.11 seconds. The Asian Games qualifying mark is two minutes 03.19 seconds. Bengal’s Lily Das won silver in 2 minutes 03.23 seconds and Maharashtra’s Yamuna Ladkat won bronze in 2 minutes 03.39 seconds.
Kerala’s Mohammad Ajmal advanced to the men’s 200m final. Ajmal finished third in the semis. The men’s / women’s 200m final will be held today. In the heptathlon javelin throw, Swapna Burman took the lead with a throw of 49.75 meters. Marina George finished second with a throw of 36.63 meters. In the men’s 400m hurdles, Kerala’s Jabir Palliyal and Thomas Mathew advanced to the final.
Among women, Kerala’s R. Aarti and R. Anu also qualified for the final. Seema Punia of Uttar Pradesh won gold in the women’s discus throw. Seema secured the gold with a throw of 54.83 meters. Haryana’s Nidhi Rani won silver with a throw of 52.18m and Delhi’s Sonal Goel bagged bronze with a throw of 50.62m. CP of Kerala Taufeera finished fifth and Akhila Raju sixth.
Mujeeb Chelari
