By IANS
Kochi : Anju Bobby George won her first meet in the Olympic year with a creditable 6.50m leap as India dominated the South Asian Athletic championships on the opening day.
The Indians won 12 of the 17 golds in the competition that extended late into the evening Friday. Sri Lanka took three golds and Pakistan two. India also picked up 10 silver and 12 bronze medals.
Anju, a top draw at the meet, is competing in her home state after a gap of seven years.
She started her campaign at the Maharaja College Ground with an opening leap of 6.45m and touched 6.50m on her second attempt. But she could not better that effort in her last three jumps that measured 6.31, 6.39 and 6.42m.
The Sri Lankan contingent had a one-two in the men’s 400m with Prasanna Amarasekara (46.47) and Rohitha Pushpakumara (46.76) taking the top two places, leaving Virender Kumar Pankaj (47.70s) a distant third.
Despite the absence of Susantika Jayasinghe, Lankans also took a one-two in the women’s 100m with D.D.P. Proyadarshani (11.74s) setting a new record, while Jani Chaturangini De Silva finishing second in 11.87s. India’s H.M. Jyoti was third with 12.01s.
Sri Lanka’s third gold came in the women’s javelin throw. Nadeeka Lakmali (26) won it with a 51.70m while Indian Suman Devi was second with 43.09m.
Pakistan’s successes came through Ghulam Shabir Hussain, who clinched the first gold medal of the meet, in hammer with a throw of 59.16m. He pushed the favourite Madhu Kumar of India to second place.
Pakistan got its second gold of the meet through triple jumper Zafat Iqbal (16.42m) and India’s Amarjeet Singh had a best of 16.39m.
Sinimole Paulose, who was hoping to clock 2:01.30 to make the Beijing Olympics, clocked 2:03.16s in the 800m. But she was hardly pushed by second-placed teammate Sushma Devi.
Chatholi Hamza, who skipped the World Indoor for the South Asian meet, won the men’s 1500m ahead of Ravinder Bharadwaj who had beaten him twice recently. Hamza clocked 3:44.67.
In the women’s 400m, Mandeep Kaur equalled her best for the women’s 400m to beat favourite Chitra Soman in 53.34s in one of the tight clashes of the day.
The results:
Men:
100m: Nagaraj (Ind) 10.62, Mohammad Imran (Pak) 10.68, 3. R.D.U. Sanjeeva Surendra (Sri) 10.71;
400m: 1 Prasanna Amarasekara (Sri) 46.47, 2. Rohitha Pushpakumara (Sri) 46.76, 3. Virender Kumar Pankaj (Ind) 47.70;
1,500m: 1. Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:44.67, 2. Ravinder Bharadwaj (Ind) 3:44.84, 3. Pritam Bind (Ind) 3:45.46.
5,000m: 1. Surendra Singh (Ind) 14:10.77 (NMR, previous 14:30.26), 2. Sandeep Batham (Ind) 14:35.06, 3. K.G.R. Samara Kumara (Sri) 14:46.75.
110m hurdles: 1. Krishna Mohan (Ind) 14.28, 2. Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) 14.39, 3. P. Muthuswami (Ind) 14.41;
Pole vault: 1. Gajanan Upadhyay (Ind) 4.70, 2. Adnan Anjum (Pak) 4.60, 3. Bimin K.P. (Ind) 4.60;
Triple jump: 1. Zafar Iqbal (Pak) 16.42, 2. Amarjeet Singh (Ind) 16.39, 3. Bibu Mathew (Ind) 16.12.
Shot put: 1. Satyendra Kumar Singh (Ind) 17.71 (NMR, previous 17.40), 2. Ashraf Ali (Pak) 17.22, 3. Om Prakash (Ind) 17.22;
Hammer: 1. Ghulam Shabbir (Pak) 59.16, 2. Madhu Kumar (Ind) 56.26, 3. Jitender Singh (Ind) 55.61.
Women:
100m: 1. Pramila Priyadarshini (Sri) 11.74 (NMR, previous 11.88), 2. Jani Chathuragini de Silva (Sri) 11.87, 3. H.M. Jyothi (Ind) 12.01;
400m: 1. Mandeep Kaur (Ind) 53.34, 2. Chitra Soman (Ind) 53.69, 2. Chandrika Subhashina (Sri) 54.74.
800m: 1. Sinimole Paulose (Ind) 2:03.16, 2. Sushma Devi (Ind) 2:05.37, 3. Bindu S.R. (Ind) 2:09.56;
5,000m: 1. Preeja Sreedharan (Ind) 16:08.09 (NMR, previous 17:04.02), 2. Kavita Raut (Ind) 16:31.22, 3. D.A. Inoka (Sri) 17:33.87.
100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ind) 14.10, 2. Poonam Bojanna (Ind) 14.51, 3. B.G.L. Madhuwanthi (Sri) 14.67;
Long jump: 1. Anju George (Ind) 6.50 (NMR, previous 6.26), 2. N.C.D. Priyadarshini (Sri) 6.06, 3. J.J. Shobha (Ind) 6.04.
Discus: 1. Seema Antil (Ind) 57.94 (NMR, previous 53.28), 2. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 57.21, 3. Saroj Sihag (Ind) 47.84;
Javelin: 1. B.L. Nadeeka Lakmali (Sri) 51.70, 2. Suman Devi (Ind) 43.09, 3. Gurpreet Kaur (Ind) 42.81.