With four men vying for two Asian Championship and Asian Games berths, there is pressure building up in the country’s men’s triple jump circuit.
And Abdulla Aboobacker, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist, won the gold on the concluding day of the 26th National Federation Cup athletics championships here on Thursday to gain a small edge in the close battle.
He was some distance away from his personal best, the impressive 17.19m which came in Bhubaneswar last year, as he topped the field here with 16.76m. But he made it clear that the big jumps were just a month away.
“I will try to break the National record (Praveen Chithravel’s 17.37m which came in Cuba recently) at next month’s Inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar,” said the 27-year-old.
“It’s very much possible. Eldhose Paul’s heel is getting better and he and Praveen will be in Bhubaneswar. Then these jumps will change.”
Abdulla, who defeated his friend U. Karthik here, said the conditions here were not ideal for good jumping.
“We came here just to qualify for the Asian championship, I had a plan to take the record too. But with the heat around, you feel tired fast, you feel as if your muscles are dried up,” he said.
However, he made the cut for the Asians which will be held in Thailand in July.
Meanwhile, high hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, who seems to be liking the 200m more and more these days, defeated Archana Suseendran — moving past her midway through the home stretch — for the second time this season in just her third try at the event. She had a personal best (23.42s) and made the cut for the Asians too.
“That was a very good time, that too against a minus-2 wind,” said Jyothi.
Long jumper Ancy Sojan also improved her personal best by a centimetre as she took the women’s long jump gold with 6.56m while Delhi’s Chanda, with a fiery run on the home stretch, broke Tintu Luka’s seven-year-old meet record in the women’s 800m..
And in men’s javelin, Rohit Yadav upset D.P. Manu to take the title with a personal best 83.40m.
The results (finals): Men: 200m: 1. Amlan Borgohain (Asm) 20.83s, 2. Animesh Kujur (Cht) 20.94, 3. Kapil (Har) 21.44. 800m: 1. Krishan Kumar (Har) 1:46.83s, 2. Muhammed Afsal (Ker) 1:47.66, 3. Ankesh Chaudhary (HP) 1:48.38. 5000m: 1. Gulveer Singh (UP) 13:54.41s, 2. Abhishek Pal (UP) 13:56.32, 3. Harmanjot Singh (MP) 13:57.02.
400m hurdles: 1. P. Yashas (Kar) 49.40s, 2. T. Santhosh (TN) 49.51, 3. M.P. Jabir (Ker) 49.99. Triple jump: 1. Abdulla Aboobacker (Ker) 16.76m, 2. U. Karthik (Ker) 16.44, 3. Mohammed Salahuddin (TN) 16.03. Pole vault: 1. Dev Meena (MP) 4.80m, 2. Rambeer Singh (Raj) 4.70, 3. Sakthi Mahendran (TN) 4.60.
Javelin: 1. Rohit Yadav (UP) 83.40m, 2. D.P. Manu (Kar) 82.95, 3. Sachin Yadav (UP) 80.27.
Women: 200m: 1. Jyothi Yarraji (AP) 23.42s, 2. Archana Suseendran (TN) 23.61, 3. Himani Chandel (MP) 23.61. 800m: 1. Chanda (Del) 2:01.79s (MR, OR: Tintu Luka’s 2:01.84), 2. Lavika Sharma (Del)2:03.70, 3. Twinkle (2:03.74). 5000m: 1. Ankita (Utr) 15:49.49s, 2. Sanjivani Jadhav (Mah) 15:51.16, 3. Seema (HP) 16:11.72.
400m hurdles: 1. Vithya Ramraj (TN) 57.51s, 2. R. Arathi (Ker) 58.29, 3. R. Anu (Ker) 59.32. Long jump: 1. Ancy Sojan (Ker) 6.56m, 2. Karthika Gothandapani (AP) 6.31, 3. Nayana James (Ker) 6.30.
High jump: 1. Rubina Yadav (Har) 1.80m, 2. Angel Devasia (Ker) 1.76, 3. Khyati Mathur (UP) 1.76. Pole vault: 1. Rosy Meena Paulraj (TN) 4.00m, 2. Pavithra Venkatesh (TN) 4.00, 3. Barbanica Elangovan ((TN) 3.60. Heptathlon: 1. Sowmiya Murugan (AP) 5187 pts, 2. Purnima Hembram (Odi) 5128, 3. Tanushree (Raj) 4655.
