GOLDEN LEAP: Anju Bobby George while picking up the long jump gold as expected, rewrote the Games record.

COLOMBO: Star long jumper Anju Bobby George failed to live up to the expectations in the athletics event of the South Asian Games on Friday.

Anju did not lose. She set a new Games record with a 6.42m effort, bettering G. Pramila's 6.37m set in 1999 in Kathmandu.

But Anju was expected to rewrite her mark of 6.83m, something she had told the Indian newspersons on Thursday.

"I have been regularly going past 6.80m in training and so touching 7m will be my aim," she had said.

But then her first competition after a three-month lay off following a right ankle injury hardly proved a success to the fans. Her first jump went 6.27m, then a foul jump followed by the best 6.42m.

Fall

From there she declined to 6.35, then a foul jump and then 6.26m. "I know where I stand now," she told a TV channel thereafter. "This competition was a test for me and the injury was playing on my mind", Anju said. She hardly found the rhythm in the run up to the stepping board, she added. "Actually the best jump today I did from nearly 20 cm behind the board," she said.

Anju conceded that even her best effort would not have got her a place in the Asian team. She ruefully said: "Yes, the website showed I am not there".

Preeja Sreedharan set a new Games record in the gruelling 10,000m run, clipping 11 seconds from Sunitha Rani's effort in Kathmandu in 1999.

Sourab bags gold

Also earning accolades was Sourab Vij in the shot put event. Sourab crossed the 17m mark, the only one to do so, enough for the gold. Promising junior Pinki Paramanik's smart run in the 400m, Anuradha Biswas's 100m hurdles were some of the highlights for India.

The Sri Lankan athletes came up with a commanding show. Rohan Pradeep Kumara, who completed a double with his 400m win, having claimed the 200m gold earlier.

The results: Men: 110m hurdles: 1. Md. Mafuzur Rahman (BD) (14.19s); 2. Muhammed Sajjad (Pak) (14.28s); 3. Abdul Rashid (Pak) (14.62s); 400m hurdles: 1. Allah Ditta (Pak) (51s); 2. M. Ashoka Jayasundara (Sl) 51.02; Joseph Abraham (Ind) 51.66; 5000m: 1. Rajendra Bhandari (Nep) (14:01.19, NR; prev 14:05.37, Bahadur Prasad, Ind, 1995); 2. Sunil Kumar Singh (Ind) (14:02.43); 3. Nowshad Khan (Pak) (14:28.59); Shot put: 1. Sourab Vij (Ind) (17.43m); 2. Kuldeep Man (Ind) (16.75m); 3. Ashraf Ali (Pak) (16.63m); Javelin: 1. Kingsly Gunathilaka (SL) 71.99; 2. Sunil Gowsami (Ind) (70.20); 3. Muhammad Irfan Hussain (Pak) (69.69); 400m: 1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (SL) (46.33); 2. Prasanna Amarasekara (SL) (46.40); 3. Raja Saheer Ahmad (Pak) (47.77); 4 x 100m relay: 1. India (Jagdish Basak, Sandeep Sarkaria, Shameer Mon, Vishal Saxena) 40.29s; 2. Pakistan (40.76); 3. Afghanistan 43.91 (Sri Lanka disqualified).

Women: 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ind) (14.28s); 2. Sumita Rani (BD) (14.36s); 3. Poonam Bojanna (Ind) (14.61); 400m: 1. Pinki Pramanik (Ind) (52.54); 2. P.D.M.P. Wickramasinghe (SL) (53.83); 3. Lasanthi Deepika (SL) (55.76); 10,000m: 1. Preeja Sreedharan (Ind) (34:27.13, NR; prev 34:38.72, Sunitha Rani, Ind, Kathmandu, 1999); 2. Kanchai Maya Koju (Nep) (35:03.43); 3. L. Preethi Rao (Ind) (35.24.05); High jump: 1. Dulanjee Ranasingha (SL) (1.71m); 2. Taranga Vinodani (SL) (1.68); 3. Tessymol Joseph (Ind) 1.68m); Discus: 1. B.L.P.N. Wijesundara (SL) 47.50m; 2. Saroj Sihag (Ind) 45.67m; 3. Priyanka Bhanot (Ind) 43.29m; Long jump: 1. Anju Bobby George (Ind) (6.42m); 2. Foujia Huda (BD) (6.07); 3. N.C.D. Priydarshini (SL) (5.94); 4 x 100m: 1. Sri Lanka (44.63, NR; prev 44.64s, India, 1999); 2. India (Deepthi Jose, Shijila, Anurdha Biswal and Poonam Tomar) (46.37s); 3. Pakistan (47.28s).

India in both finals

India entered the final of the men's and women's sections in the squash event after its wins over Bangladesh and Nepal respectively.

The results: Men: India bt Bangladesh 3-0 (Gaurav Nandrajog bt Shopon Parvez 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Vikas Jangra bt Ramjadish Pashi 9-3, 9-0, 9-6; Parth Sharma bt Bhola Lal Chowhan 9-1, 9-1, 9-0); Pakistan bt Sri Lanka 3-0.

Women: India bt Nepal 3-0 (Joshna Chinappa bt Chhitij Gurung 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; V. Anwesha Reddy bt Krishna Thapa 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Surbhi Misra bt Manida Shah 9-4, 9-0, 9-0); Sri Lanka bt Pakistan 2-1).

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