KOZHIKODE, Apr 5: Kirpal Singh Batth broke the 22-year-old men’s discuss throw meet record with an effort of 61.83m at the 25th AFI National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships here on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Batth, whose previous best of 59.74m was recorded nearly six years ago, produced a good string of throws at the C H Muhammed Koya Stadium.
Four of his attempts saw the discus soar past the 60m mark, two of them breaching 61m as well. His first and last throws were over 59m, giving him a series to remember.
His best effort, 61.83m, was just a bit short of making him only the third Indian male athlete to hurl the discus past 62m. Anil Kumar held the old record (59.55m)
Delhi’s Chanda came up with a start-to-finish effort to win the women’s 800m in 2:02.11, while Lili Das of West Bengal produced a kick over the last 100m to rise from fifth place to take the silver and also earn a time that was better than the Asian Games qualifying mark laid down by the Athletics Federation of India.
Krishan Kumar of Haryana won the men’s race but the Asian Games qualifying standard was just out of his reach.
The pole vault competition saw four athletes clearing 4.90m, with S Siva and Gokul Nath both being awarded a gold medal each, while A Gnana Sone bagged the bronze. Uttar Pradesh’s Deepak Yadav took the fourth spot on countback.
Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Burman retained her heptathlon crown, logging 5,800 points, finishing 551 points ahead of her nearest competitor, Mareena George.
MP Jabir (Kerala) and Ayyasamy Dharun (Tamil Nadu) led the eight qualifiers for the 400m hurdles final by dipping in under 52 seconds.
Santhosh Kumar cruised to victory in the other heats to raise expectations of a keen final. The disqualification of R Vithya Ramaraj (Tamil Nadu) due to a foul start left Kerala’s R Arathi and Anu Raghavan as the only women hurdlers to clock sub-1 minute times in the heats.
Results (finals):
Men
800m: 1. Krishan Kumar (Haryana) 1:47.43; 2. Mohammed Afsal (Kerala) 1;47.45; 3. Anu Kumar (Uttarakhand) 1:47.81.
Pole Vault: 1. S Siva (Tamil Nadu) and Gokul Nath (Tamil Nadu) 4.90m; 3. A Gnana Sone (Tamil Nadu) 4.90.
Discus Throw: 1. Kirpal Singh Batth (Punjab) 61.83m (New Meet Record. Old: 59.55, Anil Kumar, Lucknow, 2000); 2. Prashant Malik (Haryana) 54.11; 3. Amit Kumar (Rajasthan) 52.95.
Women
800m: 1. Chanda (Delhi) 2:02.11; 2. Lili Das (West Bengal) 2:03.23; 3. Yamuna Ladkat (Maharashtra) 2:03.39.
Triple Jump: 1. Kartika Godandapani (Tamil Nadu) 13.14m; 2. Sandra Babu (Kerala) 12.98; 3. S Nandhini (Tamil Nadu) 12.92.
High Jump: 1. Abhinaya Shetty (Karnataka) 1.83m; 2. Gracena Merly (Tamil Nadu) 1.83; 3. Kevinaa Ashwine Annavi (Tamil Nadu) 1.71.
Discus Throw: 1. Seema Punia (Uttar Pradesh) 54.83m; 2. Nidhi Rani (Haryana) 52.18; 3. Sonal Goyal (Delhi) 50.62.
Heptathlon: 1. Swapna Burman (West Bengal) 5800 points (100mH: 14.31s; HJ: 1.82m; SP: 12.43m; 200m: 26.48s; LJ: 5.71m; JT: 49.75m; 800: 2:21.80); 2. Mareena George (Kerala) 5249; 3. Sonu Kumari (Haryana) 4961. (PTI)
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