* Toommy Vaishnavi opened Karnataka's gold medal tally at the 29th Junior National Athletics Championships even as athletes from Kerala knocked over two meet records on the opening day at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Tuesday.*
Toommy, competing in triathlon for under-14 girls, totalled 1638 points to come ahead of Tamil Nadu's S Samyuktha (1597 points) and Divyanshi Shukla (1542) of Chandigarh. That was the third medal for the hosts on the day, with C Druthi (silver, girls' under-14 high jump) and S Lokesh (bronze, boys' under-14 long jump), completing a full set.
P U Chitra's fine run in the girls' under-20 1500M and Gayathry Sivakumar's convincing triumph in the under-14 high jump got Kerala's title defence off to a perfect start.
Chitra, enjoying a superb run this season, erased Sunita Rani's 17-year-old meet record of 4:35.00, clocking 4:33.82 in the 1500M. Champion in the 3000M at the Asian Schools meet earlier in the season, Chitra finished well ahead of Madhya Pradesh's Monika Choud, the silver winner in 4:36.80 but it was well outside her personal best of 4:26.59.
The 12-year-old Gayathry too was a cut above the rest at the high jump pit. Starting from 1.35, she cleared every height on her first try till she reached 1.55. Sailing over the bar on her second try, she then raised it to 1.58, only to knock it over on all her three attempts. "Adjusting to the cooler weather conditions was difficult," said the seventh standard student of Bharatiya Vidyamandir in Kochi, who has a best of 1.59, the national record in her age group.
Karnataka's Druthi, the State schools champion, touched her personal best of 1.47 for the silver. A student of the St Joseph's Convent Girls High School in Frazer Town, Druthi has been training under GVGaonkar for the last one year, and improved her previous best by four centimetres on the day.
Toommy, meanwhile, recovered from a below par effort in long jump to win the triathlon gold. After timing 13.33 seconds in the 100M, she leapt to 5.00 metres in long jump and achieved another career best of 7.49 metres in shot put to dominate the three-card event.
"It feels nice to win my first gold at the Nationals," said the 13-year-old eighth standard student of Baldwin Girls School, giving credit to her coach V R Beedu. Toommy will also be competing in the long jump event on Thursday.
Lokesh, back from Mangalore where he competed in the State schools' meet, picked up the bronze with an effort of 6.14 metres in the under-14 long jump. A trainee of C Muralidharan, Lokesh has a best of 6.16 but weariness had a say in his show on the day.Results: Boys: Under-20:1500M:M Naresh (Andhra Pradesh) 3:59.63, 1; Anand (Haryana) 4:00.06, 2; Albin Sunny (Kerala) 4:01.04, 3.
Shot put: Chataniya Dabas (Delhi) 17.07 metres, 1; Surender Singh (Haryana) 16.70, 2; Pradeep Kumar (UP) 16.00, 3.
Under-18: 1500M:Ajay Kumar S (Assam) 3:59.34, 1; Shashi Bhushan (Bengal) 3:59.34, 2; Twinkle Tomy (Kerala) 4:02.80, 3.
Under-16: 1000M:Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 2:31.93, 1; Shah Faizal (Madhya Pradesh) 2:32.52, 2; Beant Singh (Delhi) 2:33.62, 3.
High jump: Anil Sahu (Maharashtra) 1.95 metres, 1; N Mohammed Akkiel (Tamil Nadu) 1.95, 2; Geo Jose (Kerala) 1.93, 3.
Discus throw: Sanjay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 47.70 metres, 1; Abhishek D (Delhi) 46.65, 2; Saddam Hussain (Delhi) 46.08, 3.
Under-14: 600M:V Barath (Tamil Nadu) 1:27.09, 1; Heera Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 1:27.52, 2; D Srikanth (Andhra Pradesh) 1;27.54, 3.
Long jump: Sunil (Haryana) 6.41 metres, 1; Salvin Saju (Kerala) 6.16, 2; S Lokesh (Karnataka) 6.14, 3.
Triathlon: Sarfaraz Nawaz (Maharashtra) 1936 points, 1; Anil (Haryana) 1716, 2; S Sam (Tamil Nadu)1601, 3.
Girls: Under-20: 1500M:Chitra P U (Kerala) 4:33.82 (NMR. Old: 4:35.00, Sunita Rani, 1996), 1; Monika Choud (Madhya Pradesh) 4:36.80, 2; Safeeda MP (Kerala) 4:41.86, 3.
Discus throw: Suman Devi (Punjab) 40.75 metres, 1; Manisha (Haryana) 40.59, 2; Jyoti (Haryana) 39.62, 3.
Under-18: 1500M:Jyoti Saini (Punjab) 4:53.28, 1; Preeti Mehta (Uttarakhand) 4:55.34, 2; Rishu Singh (Maharashtra) 4:57.50, 3.
Under-16: 1000M:Durga Pramod (Maharashtra) 3:03.03, 1; Nitu Kumari (Jharkhand) 3:04.22, 2; Ankita Chaudhary (Uttarakhand) 3:06.26, 3.
Long jump: S Priyadarshini (Tamil Nadu) 5.63 metres, 1; Rugma Udayan (Kerala) 5.62, 2; Anita Das (Bengal) 5.45, 3.
Under-14: 600M:L Samyasri (Tamil Nadu) 1:39.55, 1; Kamaljeet (Haryana) 1:40.33, 2; P Kavya (Andhra Pradesh) 1:40.71, 3.
High jump: Gayathry Sivakumar (Kerala) 1.55 metres (NMR. Old:1.52, Jueele Badhe, 2010), 1; C Druthi (Karnataka) 1.47, 2; S Ananthi (Tamil Nadu) 1.35, 3.
Triathlon:Toommy Vaishnavi (Karnataka) 1638 points, 1; S Samyuktha (Tamil Nadu) 1597, 2; Divyanshi Shukla (Chandigarh) 1542, 3. Reported by Deccan Herald 8 hours ago.
Toommy, competing in triathlon for under-14 girls, totalled 1638 points to come ahead of Tamil Nadu's S Samyuktha (1597 points) and Divyanshi Shukla (1542) of Chandigarh. That was the third medal for the hosts on the day, with C Druthi (silver, girls' under-14 high jump) and S Lokesh (bronze, boys' under-14 long jump), completing a full set.
P U Chitra's fine run in the girls' under-20 1500M and Gayathry Sivakumar's convincing triumph in the under-14 high jump got Kerala's title defence off to a perfect start.
Chitra, enjoying a superb run this season, erased Sunita Rani's 17-year-old meet record of 4:35.00, clocking 4:33.82 in the 1500M. Champion in the 3000M at the Asian Schools meet earlier in the season, Chitra finished well ahead of Madhya Pradesh's Monika Choud, the silver winner in 4:36.80 but it was well outside her personal best of 4:26.59.
The 12-year-old Gayathry too was a cut above the rest at the high jump pit. Starting from 1.35, she cleared every height on her first try till she reached 1.55. Sailing over the bar on her second try, she then raised it to 1.58, only to knock it over on all her three attempts. "Adjusting to the cooler weather conditions was difficult," said the seventh standard student of Bharatiya Vidyamandir in Kochi, who has a best of 1.59, the national record in her age group.
Karnataka's Druthi, the State schools champion, touched her personal best of 1.47 for the silver. A student of the St Joseph's Convent Girls High School in Frazer Town, Druthi has been training under GVGaonkar for the last one year, and improved her previous best by four centimetres on the day.
Toommy, meanwhile, recovered from a below par effort in long jump to win the triathlon gold. After timing 13.33 seconds in the 100M, she leapt to 5.00 metres in long jump and achieved another career best of 7.49 metres in shot put to dominate the three-card event.
"It feels nice to win my first gold at the Nationals," said the 13-year-old eighth standard student of Baldwin Girls School, giving credit to her coach V R Beedu. Toommy will also be competing in the long jump event on Thursday.
Lokesh, back from Mangalore where he competed in the State schools' meet, picked up the bronze with an effort of 6.14 metres in the under-14 long jump. A trainee of C Muralidharan, Lokesh has a best of 6.16 but weariness had a say in his show on the day.Results: Boys: Under-20:1500M:M Naresh (Andhra Pradesh) 3:59.63, 1; Anand (Haryana) 4:00.06, 2; Albin Sunny (Kerala) 4:01.04, 3.
Shot put: Chataniya Dabas (Delhi) 17.07 metres, 1; Surender Singh (Haryana) 16.70, 2; Pradeep Kumar (UP) 16.00, 3.
Under-18: 1500M:Ajay Kumar S (Assam) 3:59.34, 1; Shashi Bhushan (Bengal) 3:59.34, 2; Twinkle Tomy (Kerala) 4:02.80, 3.
Under-16: 1000M:Arshdeep Singh (Punjab) 2:31.93, 1; Shah Faizal (Madhya Pradesh) 2:32.52, 2; Beant Singh (Delhi) 2:33.62, 3.
High jump: Anil Sahu (Maharashtra) 1.95 metres, 1; N Mohammed Akkiel (Tamil Nadu) 1.95, 2; Geo Jose (Kerala) 1.93, 3.
Discus throw: Sanjay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 47.70 metres, 1; Abhishek D (Delhi) 46.65, 2; Saddam Hussain (Delhi) 46.08, 3.
Under-14: 600M:V Barath (Tamil Nadu) 1:27.09, 1; Heera Pal (Uttar Pradesh) 1:27.52, 2; D Srikanth (Andhra Pradesh) 1;27.54, 3.
Long jump: Sunil (Haryana) 6.41 metres, 1; Salvin Saju (Kerala) 6.16, 2; S Lokesh (Karnataka) 6.14, 3.
Triathlon: Sarfaraz Nawaz (Maharashtra) 1936 points, 1; Anil (Haryana) 1716, 2; S Sam (Tamil Nadu)1601, 3.
Girls: Under-20: 1500M:Chitra P U (Kerala) 4:33.82 (NMR. Old: 4:35.00, Sunita Rani, 1996), 1; Monika Choud (Madhya Pradesh) 4:36.80, 2; Safeeda MP (Kerala) 4:41.86, 3.
Discus throw: Suman Devi (Punjab) 40.75 metres, 1; Manisha (Haryana) 40.59, 2; Jyoti (Haryana) 39.62, 3.
Under-18: 1500M:Jyoti Saini (Punjab) 4:53.28, 1; Preeti Mehta (Uttarakhand) 4:55.34, 2; Rishu Singh (Maharashtra) 4:57.50, 3.
Under-16: 1000M:Durga Pramod (Maharashtra) 3:03.03, 1; Nitu Kumari (Jharkhand) 3:04.22, 2; Ankita Chaudhary (Uttarakhand) 3:06.26, 3.
Long jump: S Priyadarshini (Tamil Nadu) 5.63 metres, 1; Rugma Udayan (Kerala) 5.62, 2; Anita Das (Bengal) 5.45, 3.
Under-14: 600M:L Samyasri (Tamil Nadu) 1:39.55, 1; Kamaljeet (Haryana) 1:40.33, 2; P Kavya (Andhra Pradesh) 1:40.71, 3.
High jump: Gayathry Sivakumar (Kerala) 1.55 metres (NMR. Old:1.52, Jueele Badhe, 2010), 1; C Druthi (Karnataka) 1.47, 2; S Ananthi (Tamil Nadu) 1.35, 3.
Triathlon:Toommy Vaishnavi (Karnataka) 1638 points, 1; S Samyuktha (Tamil Nadu) 1597, 2; Divyanshi Shukla (Chandigarh) 1542, 3. Reported by Deccan Herald 8 hours ago.