Sreeshankar gets Tokyo ticket with new record
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Patiala, March 16
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar today qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after he improved on his own national record with a leap of 8.26 metres on the second day of the Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships here.
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The 21-year-old Kerala athlete jumped to 8.26m in his fifth attempt, with which he broke the national record of 8.20m he had set in 2018. The Olympics qualification mark the men’s in long jump is 8.22m. Sreeshankar began with a jump of 8.02m before improving to 8.04m, 8.07m and 8.09m on his next three jumps, eventually touching 8.26m on his fifth attempt.
Athletes for Tokyo
- Race-walking: KT Irfan, Sandeep Kumar and Rahul Rohilla (all men’s 20km), and Bhawana Jat and Priyanka Goswami (women’s 20km)
Javelin throwing: Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh
AdvertisementTrack: Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Mixed 4x400m relay team
Dutee beaten, Hima disqualified
Earlier, little known Dhanalakshmi of Tamil Nadu produced one of the biggest upsets of the meet to win the women’s 100m dash.
In a field that had heavyweights Dutee Chand and Hima Das, it was the 22-year-old sprinter who clocked 11.39 seconds for the win. The Olympics qualification mark for women’s 100m stands at 11.15 seconds.
After Hima was disqualified for a false start, Dutee Chand was relegated to the second spot by the upcoming Dhanalakshmi. Dutee took the silver in 11.58 seconds.
Gurindervir wins gold
In the men’s 100 metres, Punjab’s Gurindervir Singh defended his title clocking 10.23 seconds. “I was aiming to break the national record but could not do so,” Gurindervir said. “During lockdown, I used to train at Khalsa College ground in Jalandhar at 3am. I broke my training schedule for just 15 days during this period. But I could not get time to train on the track. I trained at Sangrur for four-five days before coming to Patiala,” he added.
Elakkiyadasan Kannadas of Tamil finished second in 10.43s while Maharashtra’s Satish Rane completed the podium in 10.56s. The Olympics cut is 10.05s. Himachal Pradesh’s Paras, 23, clocked 10.72s to finish sixth in the eight-man final.
Harmilan’s personal best
Upcoming runner Harmilan Bains fell just under three seconds short of the national record as she won the 1500m gold. The 22-year-old from Punjab won the race in her personal best of 4 minutes, 08.70 seconds, with the national record being 4:06.03.
Kerala’s PU Chitra (4:17.56) and Maharashtra’s Durga Pramod Deore (4:27.87) won silver and bronze, respectively. — TNS, agencies
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