The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Bharathi sets steeplechase mark

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 12, 2004

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Bharathi sets steeplechase mark

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI, SEPT. 11 . B.L. Bharathi took centrestage with a meet mark in the women's 3000m steeplechase on the second day of the Standard Chartered National Open Athletics Championships on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Bangalore University student took charge by the fifth lap and cruised to the finish in 11 min 07.13 seconds (old record 11:07.65 by B. Hemlatha of Indian Railways in 2003) at the Priyadarshini Park.

The amazing aspect of Bharathi's feat was her mileage, shuttling between Mumbai and Gulbarga (all-India university athletics) in the space of three days, arriving early on Saturday morning after an overnight rail journey and running seven-and-half laps of the track.

"I won the 6 km cross-country event for Bangalore University on Friday, the 3000m steeplechase for Karnataka a day later. I want to concentrate on track events now and hopefully the Open Nationals gold will improve employment opportunities. I need a job to focus full-time on distance running," said the youngster.

Bharathi's training partner in Bangalore, Arun D'Souza of Indian Railways, maintained his stranglehold on the men's steeplechase event for the eighth year, winning comfortably with a timing of 9:10.57.

Services middle-distance runner Josemon Mathew destroyed rivals with a mix of power, rhythm and elegance in men's 800m, clocking 1:50.74.

The results: Women: 3000m steeplechase: 1. B.L.Bharathi (Kar) 11:07.13; 2. Vinita Thakur (Pun) 11:18.98; 3. S. Shanthi (TN) 11:19.67. 5000m: 1. Preeja Sridharan (Rlys) 17:43.72; 2. Madhuri Gurnule (LIC) 17:56.88; 3. Rupinder Kaur (Pun) 18:12.24.

100m hurdles: 1. Soma Biswas (Rlys) 14.24secs; 2. Amita Sethi (Ori) 14.44; 3. G.G. Pramila (Rlys) 14.79. 400m: Satti Geetha (Rlys) 53.81secs; 2.Rupinder Kaur (Rlys) 56.14; 3. Bindu Rani (Kar) 56.94.

Triple jump: 1. Tincy Philip (Ker) 12.68m; 2. Tessymol Joseph (Rlys) 12.58m; 3. Lekha Roy (LIC) 12.56m. 800m: 1.Sunita Kumari (Rlys) 2:12.46; 2. Tejinder Kaur (Pun) 2:13.05; 3. Pinki Pramanik (Rlys) 2:13.64.

Discus throw: 1. Neelam Singh (Rlys) 57.21m; 2. Krishna Punia (Rlys) 55.24; 3. Manmet Bains (Rlys) 46.46.

Men: Decathlon: 1. Kulwinder Singh (Ser) 7081 pts; 2. P.J. Vinod (Steel Plants) 7038; 3. Victor J. Singh (Rlys) 6506. 800m: 1. Josemon Mathew (Ser) 1:50.74; 2. Primesh. P.S (LIC) 1:51.41; 3. Sohesh. S.J (Ser) 1:51.65.

3000m steeplechase: 1. Arun D'Souza (Rlys) 9:10.57; 2. Ranjeeth Kumar (Ser) 9:15.18; 3. Basuraj C.D (Mah) 9:28.14. 400m: 1. Sarish Paul (Ser) 47.82 secs; 2. P.Shankar (AP) 48.30; 3. Sreejith.P.S (Ker) 48.44. 110m hurdles: 1.Krishna Mohan (Ser) 14:83secs; 2. P.V. Augustin (Rlys) 14.94); 3. R. Mathew (Ser) 15.06.

20km walk: 1. Vijaykumar Gehlot (Rlys) 1:33:01; 2. Sitaram Mangi Lal (Ser) 1:33:14; 3.Sree Ram (Rlys) 1:35:37. Discus throw: 1. Sukhveer Singh (Pun) 55.14m; 2. Gursewak Singh (Pun) 54.53; 3. Amritpal Singh Sr (Pun) 54.04.

Pole vault: 1. Gajanan Upadhyay (Rlys) 4.70m; 2. P.P. Jayakumar (Ser) 4.50; 3. Jagbir Singh (Rlys) and Ranjith Kumar (TN) both 4.40. 4x100 relay: 1. Indian Railways 40.63s; 2. Services 41.51; 3. All-India Police 42.20.

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