National Athletics: Meena scales new height, Rupal Chaudhary shifts gear to win 400m gold

Kochi, April 22: Talented pole vaulter, Dev Meena from Madhya Pradesh hogged the limelight with a brilliant display, setting a new national record in the 28th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships here on Tuesday. The second day of the competition was time to rejoice for some as they were successful in achieving qualification marks for the Asian Athletics Championships in their respective events at Maharaja's College Stadium here.

Meena improved his national record by scaling a height of 5.35m but fell short of the Asian qualification mark of 5.51m. Meena's previous national record of 5.32m was set at the 38th Uttarakhand National Games in Dehradun.

Meena said he was a bit disappointed in missing the Asian qualification mark, but expressed his satisfaction with Tuesday's performance. "I wanted to raise the bar, but there was a light drizzle and I didn't continue on the advice of my coach," Meena was quoted as saying by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) on Tuesday.

There was intense competition in the women's 400m.

While Rupal Chaudhary, one of the favourites to win the title, conserved every ounce of energy for the home stretch, Tamil Nadu's Asian Games medallist, Vithya Ramraj, who had a good lead in the first 300m, couldn't find another gear to sustain her lead in the last 100m. She was edged out by Rupal on the tape. Rupal's winning time of 52.55 seconds was well below the Asian qualifying mark of 53.80 seconds.

A quick decision was key to Rupal's success on Tuesday. "I just wanted to catch up and shift to another gear as the first 200m was slow," Rupal said after winning the gold medal. "I'm happy to have won the race."

Vithya said she paid for the brutal pace in the first 300m. "I never had the energy to move forward and had to settle for second place," Vithya said.

The top six runners in the women's 400m dipped below the Asian qualification time of 53.80 seconds.

Asian Games medallist and India's fastest female hurdler, Jyothi Yarraji, too expressed her satisfaction in winning the 100m hurdles gold with a time of 13.23 seconds to better the Asian qualification time of 13.26 seconds. Jyothi said she had pulled her right hamstring three weeks back and couldn't dip below 13 seconds. "Kochi was my only chance to make the cut for the Asian meet. Hence, I had no choice but to compete," Jyothi added.

Results:

Men:

400m (Asian Q time 45.36 seconds): Vishal TK (Tamil Nadu) 46.19 seconds, Jay Kumar (Delhi) 46.33 seconds, Manu TS (Kerala) 46.39 seconds.

Pole vault (Asian Q mark 5.51m): Dev Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.35m (NR. Previous record 5.30m), M Gowtham (Tamil Nadu) 5.15m, Reegan G (Tamil Nadu) 5.10m.

Discus throw (Asian Q mark 59.63m): Nirbhay Singh (Haryana) 58.13m, Abhimanyu (JSW) 55.11m, Bhartpreet Singh (Reliance) 53.79m

High jump (Asian Q mark 2.23m): Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.26m, Swadhin Kumar Majhi (Odisha) 2.14m, Bharath Raj B (Kerala) 2.14m.

Long jump (Asian Q mark 8.07m): David P (Tamil Nadu) 7:94m, Jeswin Aldrin (Reliance) 7.83m, Muhammed Anees (Reliance) 7.70m.

110m hurdles (Asian Q time 13.56 seconds): Tejas Ashok Shirse (Maharashtra) 13.65 seconds, Manav R (Railway Sports) 13.94 seconds, Muhammed Lazan VK (JSW) 14.17 seconds.

Women

400m (Asian Q time 53.80 seconds): Rupal Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 52.55 seconds, Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 52.81 seconds, Sneha K (Kerala) 53.00 seconds.

100m hurdles (Asian Q time 13.26 seconds) Jyothi Yarraji (Reliance) 13.23 seconds, Pragyan Prasanti (Odisha) 13.40 seconds, Nithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 13.42 seconds.

Discus throw (Asian Q mark 54.19m): Seema (JSW) 57.17m, Bhavana Yadav (Delhi) 52.15m, Priya (Haryana) 51.36m.

Heptathlon: Agasara Nandini (Telangana) 5813 points, Pooja (Haryana) 5401 points, Moumita Mondal (Reliance) 5373 points.

Reader Comments

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Sarah K.

Dev Meena is such an inspiration! Breaking his own record despite the weather conditions shows real dedication 👏 Can't wait to see him hit that Asian qualification mark next time!

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Rahul P.

That 400m women's race sounded absolutely electric! Rupal's strategy was brilliant - conserving energy for the final stretch. Vithya gave it her all too. What a competition!

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Priya M.

Respect to Jyothi Yarraji for competing despite her hamstring injury. That's true sportsmanship right there 💪 Hope she recovers fully before the Asian Championships!

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Amit S.

While the performances were great, I wish we had more coverage of field events like discus and long jump. These athletes deserve equal attention for their achievements.

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Neha T.

The fact that all top six women in 400m qualified for Asian Championships is incredible! Indian athletics is really stepping up its game 🎉

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Vikram J.

Meena's coach made the right call stopping due to drizzle. Safety first! The record will come when conditions are better. Smart coaching decision imo.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.