Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (CLP)
Mangaluru, May 3: The third day of the 19th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championship on Sunday May 3 saw Karnataka clinch both gold and silver medals in men's high jump.
At the end of the third day, Karnataka continued to maintain the lead, with a score of 84.5, with Army coming second with a score of 68.5 and Kerala third (60).
Harshith S won the gold with a jump of 2.13 m and Supreeth Raj bagged the silver with a leap of 2.09 m. Both represented Karnataka. Supreeth shared the silver with Srineesh C of Army. But none of them qualified for the Asian Athletics Championship to be held in China.
Speaking to daijiworld, Harshith said, "I did not reach my personal best which 2.17 m. I am very happy with the way the event has been organized, but I did not do well. I will definitely do better in the next athletics meet."
In men's shot put, Inderjeet Singh of Haryana came close to beating the national record of 20.69 m by Om Prakash Singh. Inderjeet achieved a distance of 20.65 m which won him the gold and a place in the Rio Olympics, while the national record holder Om Prakash Singh of ONGC bagged the bronze with a distance of 18.02 m. The silver went to Tejinder Singh of Punjab (18.08 m).
Speaking to daijiworld, an elated Inderjeet said, "I am very happy that I came close to beating the national record, and I have qualified for the Rio Olympics. I hope to do better in Rio and I will prepare well and work very hard. Just like IPL in cricket, there should be an Athletics league as this is the mother of all games." In a lighter vein he added, "A kid when he begins to throw things around, he is doing nothing but practicing shot put!"
"This event has been organized very well and I am thankful for the crowd support which enabled me to perform well," he added.
In men's long jump, Ankit Sharma of Haryana clinched the gold with a jump of 7.99 m which qualified him for the Asian Athletics. Yugant Singh of Uttar Pradesh won the silver (7.53 m) and M Arshad of AIR won the bronze (7.38 m)
Speaking to daijiworld, Ankit said, "This is my second personal best. I am happy but the humidity affected my performance. I will do better next time."
In the men's hammer throw, Niraj Kumar of Navy clinched the gold with a distance of 64.53 m, but did not qualify for the Asian Athletics. M Shankar of Tamil Nadu won the silver (56.83 m) and Abhishek Yadav of Uttarakhand, the bronze (49.81 m). The event saw poor response from athletes with just three in contention.
"The event has been organized very well, but I am sad that I did not qualify for the Asian Athletics. There was not enough competition to push me. My personal best is 68.08 m and I feel if there was more competitiveness, I would have done better."
Other results:
Women's 3000 m steeplechase
Pariti Lamba - Haryana - 10:48:86
Nandini Gupta - Uttar Pradesh - 10:58:76
S Padmavathy - Tamil Nadu - 11:30:50
Men's 3000 m steeplechase
Jaiveer Singh - Army - 8:48:56
Naveen Kumar - Army - 8:49:38
Sachin Bajirao - Maharashtra - 8:58:13
Men's pole vault
J Preeth - Tamil Nadu - 4.90 m
P Balakrishna - Karnataka - 4.80 m
Krishna Prasath - Tata Motors - 4.80 m
Women's triple jump
Sheena N V - Kerala - 12.92 m
Joyline M Lobo - Karnataka - 12.62 m
Shilpa Chacko - Kerala - 12.45 m
Men's 20 km walk
Maniram Patel - Gujarat - 1:29:51
Kuldeep - Tata - 1:31:04
Joshi Sagar - Navy - 1:21:13
Sports minister Abhaychandra Jain, MLA Mohiuddin Bava, MLA Shakuntala Shetty, police commissioner S Murugan, Asha Thimmappa Gowda, Srividya and others presented medals to winners of various events.
Press Meet
Addressing a press meet later in the evening, sports minister Abhaychandra Jain appreciated the media for giving wide coverage for the Federation Cup.
"It was a long-cherished dream to host the Federation Cup Athletics Championship in Mangaluru. I thank the media for the wide coverage. Wherever there were loopholes the media highlighted them and showed us direction. We did not compromise on arrangements, whether it was accomodation, food or materials. We prepared well by holding meetings right from the start," Jain said.
"Accomodation was given to coaches and technical staff too. We bought sports materials worth Rs 55 lac as we did not want to compromise on any aspect. Earlier there was lot of dust in Mangala Stadium, but for the safety of athletes and to beautify the ground, the government gave Rs 50 lac to lay the turf," he added. The same amount has also been provided to stadiums in Moodbidri and Udupi.
"The Federation Cup was not a one-man show and all the committees and federations worked hand in hand to make this event a success. I hope that the final day will also be successful. The cultural programmes have been arranged by the department of Kannada and culture," he said.
He also announced Rs 25,000 each to two athletes who broke the meet record during the event, in shot put and javelin throw.
To a question on what would be done with the sports materials once the event is over, Jain said that excess materials would be given to stadiums in Udupi and Moodbidri.
District Athletics Association president Manjunath Bhandary said, "I thank Abhaychandra Jain for this efforts and wholehearted support in making this event possible.
"This time, out of 60 of the technical staff who passed a selection exam held prior to the meet, 20 were from Dakshina Kannada. Earlier we had to bring technical staff from other places, but this time we did not have to struggle as 20 were from DK," he added.
"We have given our best to make this event a success. We apologise if there were any shortcomings, and we will improve in the coming days. I thank the media for the wonderful coverage," he said.
DC A B Ibrahim, Jagannath Shetty Bala and others were present.