By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Surendra Singh of Uttarakhand bettered his own championship record (13:59.46s set in 2006) in the Men’s 5000 Metre with a timing of 13:55.71s in the first event of the 47th National Inter-state Senior Athletics Championship which got underway here at the Tatya Tope Stadium today.
Kashinath Aswale of Jharkhand finished second with 14:05.76s while arch rival of Surender, Sunil Kumar slipped to third place with a performance of 14:14.34s.
While in the Women’s 5000 Metre final, O.P. Jaisha of Kerala made a superb comeback after Doha Asian Games and won the title with 16:21.06s beating favorite Preeja Sreedharan (16:25.31s) of Jharkhand. Kavita Raut of Maharashtra finished on the third place with a timing of 16:27.77s.
In men’s Shot Put Satendar Kumar of Jharkahnd with a heave of 17.94 meters won gold.Om Prakash of Haryana and Amit Tyagi of Gujarat with a throw of 17.83 meters and 16.30 meters bagged silver and bronze medals respectively.
The Shot Putters gave a poor performance as they fell short by about three metres of the National and Meet records. Shakti Singh is the pride holder of both National and Meet records which stands in his name which is 20.42 Metres.
In wome’s Discus Throw Haryana girls won both gold and silver medals. Saroj Singh with a throw of 52.37 Metres took gold while Seema Antil with a throw of 52.08 Metres won silver medal. The bronze medal was won by Baljit Kaur of Punjab with a throw of 46.93 Metres.
None of the women Discuss Throw winners were nowhere near the National and Meet Records of 64.64 Metres established in August 2004 in Chennai and 62.49 Metres in July 2000 in Punjab by Seema Antil and Neelam Singh respectively.
Sahana Kumari of Jharkhand jumped a distance of 1.79 Metres to grab gold in the long jump event for women. She failed to equal even the National and Meet records of 1.91 Metres both standing in the name of Bobby Aloysius established in July 2004 and fell short by 0.12 Metres.
Maryan C Thariyan of Delhi jumping to a distance of 1.76 Metres stood second to take silver while Kavya Muthanna of Karnataka with a distance of 1.70 Metressettled for bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan officially declared the championship open. Sports & Youth Welfare Minister for State Tukojirao Puar presided over the function. Mayor Sunil Sood the LIC Regional Manager R.B. Rai were special guests on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Chouhan announced the opening of an Athletic Academy in Madhya Pradesh from next year and also agreed to hold Asian Star Athletic Meet-2008 in Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister’s announcements were sequel to the requests made by Lalit Bhanot, secretary Athletic Federation of India, while speaking earlier in the opening ceremony.
Chouhan reiterated the State Government’s resolve to leave no stone unturned for the development of sports in the state.
“We are focussing on sports and have opened up a number of sports academies”, Chouhan pointed outed.
Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Sports & Youth Welfare Minister Tukijirao Puar stressed on discipline and sportsman’s spirit among sportspersons.
Chouhan felicitated the three sportspersons in hockey discipline who represented Madhya pradesh in national teams and brought laurels for India, Shivendra Singh, who played for India in the recently concluded Asia Cup Hockey Championship held at Chennai, had scored eight goals in the tournament which India won. He was presented Rs.three lakh which his father received in his absence.
Rose Nil Lalte and Manorama Devi of Madhya Pradesh Women Hockey Academy also helped Indian team bringing laurels toi the country,were also felicitated with Rs 50000 each alng with amemento.
President MP Olympic Association, Mahesh Joshi, vice president Dr Shafquat Mohammed Khan, President of TTTI, Mahendra Singh Chouhan MP Athletics Association president SN Parmar, secreytary Mumtaz Khan, MIC member, Jamal Akhtar, Gautam More, Sanjay Sahu and several players were present on the occasion. ([email protected])