The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Shanthi clocks career best to win 800m

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 09, 2006
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Sport - Boxing

Shanthi clocks career best to win 800m

K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI: S. Shanthi lived up to her billing as the Asian silver medallist by scalping Pinki Paramanik in the women's 800 metres on the concluding day of the 46th Open National athletics championships here on Sunday.

Pinki suffered her first defeat at home this season in the process, while Shanthi had a personal best to show in the 2:02.21 that she clocked for the gold.

Lying just behind Sinimole Paulose at the bell, Shanthi hit the front on the back straight and held off a late challenge by Pinki quite confidently through the home straight to score a significant victory.

Defeats avenged

The 25-year-old Tamil Nadu woman, who had won the silver at the Asian championships in Incheon, Korea, last year, in 2:04.01, her best till now, avenged her defeats to Pinki through this season, in all the three legs of the Asian Grand Prix circuit and the South Asian Games in Colombo. Pinki timed 2:03.37.

R. Rajeev, who came into prominence this season with his victory over Ghamanda Ram at the Patiala circuit meet, also clocked a career best of 1:48.89, bettering his Inter-Railway effort of 1:49.56 while winning the men's 800 metres. Junior Sajeesh Joseph was marginally off his best (1:50.17) while coming home in 1:50.34 for the silver.

Hari Sankar Roy bettered the meet record in high jump with a clearance of 2.18 metres. He was unsuccessful at 2.21 metres, a height he had cleared this season. His national record stands at 2.25 metres. Bibu Mathew and Shanthi were adjudged the `best athletes. Railways won both the men and women's team championships.

The results:

Men: 200m: 1. Vishal Saxena (Rly) 21.33, 2. B.G. Nagraj (Rly) 21.35, 3. A. Aravind (Rly) 21.46; 800m: R. Rajeev (Rly) 1:48.89, 2. Sajeesh Joseph (Rly) 1:50.34, 3. Jaskaran Singh (Har) 1:52.14; 5,000m: 1. Sunil Kumar Singh (Rly) 14:00.61, 2. Santosh Kumar Patel (Rly) 14:10.21, 3. Kashinath Aswale (Rly) 14:19.65; 400m hurdles: 1. Joseph Abraham (Pol) 51.48, 2. Ranjodh Singh (Pol) 52.28, 3. Satinder Singh (Pun) 52.50; High jump: 1. Hari Sankar Roy (Rly) 2.18 (NMR, previous 2.17), 2. Vinod Kumar (Rly) 2.14, 3. Benedit Starly (Rly) 2.11; Triple jump: 1. Bibu Mathew (Ser) 16.29, 2. Renjith Maheshwary (Rly) 16.26, 3. Alex Thomas (Ser) 16.16; Discus: 1. Vipinder Singh (Ser) 52.84, 2. Harpreet Singh (ONGC) 52.56, 3. Rambir Singh (Ser) 52.20; Decathlon: 1. P. J. Vinod (Ker) 7120, 2. Ram Niwas (Rly) 6871, 3. Dayaram (Ser) 6719; 4x400m: 1. Railways 3:10.43, 2. Services 3:11.85, 3. Haryana 3:16.43. Team championship: 1. Railways (209 pts), 2. Services 154, 3. Police 40.

Women: 200m: 1. Chitra K. Soman (ONGC) 24.08, 2. Rakhi Saha (Rly) 24.54, 3. H.M. Jyothi (Kar) 24.62; 800m: 1. S. Shanthi (TN) 2:02.21, 2. Pinki Paramanik (Rly) 2:03.37, 3. Sinimole Paulose (Steel Plants) 2:04.07; 5,000m: 1. O. P. Jaisha (Rly) 16:05.26, 2. Madhuri Gurnule (LIC) 17:52.93, 3. Rashmi Gurnule (Mah) 18:19.93; 400m hurdles: 1. Pooja Jakhar (Del) 59.28, 2. Baljeet Kaur (Rly) 59.83, 3. Babita Singh (Rly) 60.26; Long jump: 1. J. J. Shobha (Rly) 6.32, 2. Pramila Aiyappa (Rly) 6.19, 3. Shalu Choudhary (Del) 5.92; Shot put: 1. Saroj Sihag (Pol) 14.52, 2. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 13.99, 3. Saraswathy (Rly) 13.48. 4x400m: 1. Railways 3:48.01, 2. Andhra Pradesh 4:09.41, 3. Police 4:17.14. Team championship: 1. Railways 253, 2. Police 34, Punjab 27.