The Hindu : Mahesh, Pasholleima claim titles

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Mahesh, Pasholleima claim titles

By Our Special Correspondent

Mahesh Singh Fartyal (left) of Army Sports Institute, Pune, and Manipur's Pashotleima Devi, winner of the men's and women's events respectively in the Chennai marathon on Sunday.

CHENNAI NOV. 30. Mahesh Singh Fartyal of Army Sports Institute, Pune, and T.A. Pasholleima, a Manipur schoolgirl, emerged the men's and women's champions respectively in the Chennai Marathon held on Sunday. The event was jointly organised by the Rotary District 3230 and SDAT.

Even if the turnout was less than expected there was no mistaking the enthusiasm as 2,000 odd men, women, boys and girls joined the mass run from the picturesque Labour statue overlooking the Marina.

Of them, perhaps only around 170 were competitive runners, some having represented the country in international meets. Tennis ace Ramesh Krishnan was spotted aside from a sprinkling of state sportspersons. A few foreigners too joined.

Much to the relief of the runners, the weather was ideal with the sun hiding behind clouds. At least one stretch of the run was washed in a sudden downpour. To the serious-minded that hampered progress but some like Britisher Alan Atkinson enjoyed it.

The event was not without heartbreaks, certainly for third and fourth placed men H.A. Chinnappa and Bipul Saharia, both national level runners from Services. Their grievance, as also Mahesh Singh's, was that Jharkand's Sukhnantha Lal, who placed second, had taken a wrong route and thereby was benefited by a good distance.

Organisers admitted Sukhnantha, who was leading the pack, turned at the wrong place at Thiruvanmiyur but it was compensated when he was asked to an additional lap at the Nehru Stadium where the race finished.

The technical delegate, Mr. Pazhaniya Pillai, agreed that strictly as per rules anyone taking a wrong route was disqualified but was overlooked here, as the spirit of the occasion was different. Old timers like 73-year-old Damodaran and 61-year-old K.L. Patil, who believed in participation as important, also completed the race. Damodaran did a half marathon while Patil, a former sub-inspector from Mysore, finished the gruelling distance in over three hours.

Sukhanantha's mistake in fact gave the competition a certain edge, as the winner was decided just 25 metres from the tape.

There was no such problem for Pasholleima, a regular long distance runner in national meets, to complete the half marathon. She was runner up last year and beat the holder Bhagwathi convincingly.

Mr. W.I. Davaram, vice president, SDAT was the chief guest and gave away the prizes. The men's winner got Rs 1.50 lakh and women's winner Rs. 75,000.

The results: men: 1. Mahesh Singh Fartyal (ASI, Pune) 28:35.0; 2. Sukhnantha Lal (Jharkand) 28:38.0; 3. H.A. Chinappa (ASI Pune) 28:43.0. Women: 1. T.A. Pasholleima (Manipur) 1:16.34.1s; 2. Bhagwathi (Del) 1:21.26.0; 3. Indiresh Dhiraj 1.22.23.0.

Juniors (10 km): Girls: L. Suriya 2. R. Ramya 3. S. Kanthamani.

Below 15 yrs (5 km): boys: 1. Md Kaif, 2. K. Anbudurai, 3. S. Arun. Girls: 1. Lavanya, 2. Neeta Pon Malar, 3. P. Uma.

Corporate (5 km): men: B.G. Suresh Kumar, 2. Thanuj Kumar, 3. Joseph V. Philip. Women: 1. Radha Krishnaswamy, 2. Divya Ramprasad, 3. J. Rubia.

Rotarians: men: 1. P.S. George, 2. L. Jagdish, 3. Shivram. Women: 1. Shoba Rajkumar, 2. Varalakshmi Badri, 3. Meera Balachander.

Juniors: 1. Ratna Prabhu, 2. Manav Mukund, 3. Ashwin.

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