GOLDEN LEAP: Kerala's Anisha K. Vijayan was too good for her rivals in the women's triple jump. — Photo: R. Ragu

Guwahati : The completion of a golden double by J.J. Shobha (Andhra Pradesh), the establishment of a new meet record by L. Deepamala Devi (Assam) and a clean sweep by Kerala girls in the triple jump formed the highlight of the third day of the athletic events of the 33rd National Games at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Sarasujai, on Tuesday.

Interestingly, the hazy day had no track final on the cards and this definitely was a big dampener for the sizeable gathering which had filled up the galleries at least a good one-and-a-half hours before the start of the afternoon session. So, naturally the attention was more riveted on the women's heptathlon wherein Bengal's Susmita Singha Roy had a distinct advantage over Shobha until the completion of the fifth event.

The Bengal girl, the overnight leader of the pack after four events, had built up a 123-point lead over her veteran Andhra Pradesh rival by then, but a disastrous showing in the javelin throw, the sixth item of the two-day event, dashed her hopes of a great win over Shobha. It was just the opening the National record holder for the event, who had been out of training after the Doha Asian Games, had been seeking and the 29-year-old did not disappoint her band of supporters by pouncing on the opportunity.

Taking lead

Susmita who had been performing creditably till then could only manage a best of 29. 37m in the javelin whereas Shobha finished with a best of 41.80m. The Andhra athlete, consequently was able to gain the lead for the first time during the course of the competition and now had a tally of 4434 points against Susmita's total of 4320 points. And as the athletes prepared for the last event, the 800m, the Bengal athlete was left with a daunting task of running a sub-2:20 in the 800m to score her first win over Shobha.

In the end, Susmita could only finish the two-lapper at 2:24.57 while Shobha returned at 2:28.29 to collar her second gold at these Games. Shobha, as she added the heptathlon gold to the long jump title that she had won on the opening day, had a total of 5141 points, holding a narrow 53-point lead over her arch rival.

It was a touch-and-go affair and Shobha was quite ecstatic after confirming her superiority: "I had a bad first day on Monday, having been out of training for quite sometime now. But thankfully everything worked well for me today and was thus able to push myself in getting the gold once again."

L. Deepamala Devi, though originally hailing from Manipur but representing Assam now walked herself to the 20km walk gold for a second time in a row and that too with a new Games record to boot. The early morning start did not seem to deter the National record holder and she kept her cool to finish a good eight minutes better than the existing record of 1:49:51.00.

Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) and W. Lamganbi Devi (Manipur) who finished second and third also came well within the old record.

Complete sweep

With Kalpana Das (Bengal), the lone athlete in the field capable enough of providing some opposition to the Kerala girls, performing much below expectations, it was a cheerful time all along way for Anisha K. Vijayan, Mayookha Johny and M.A. Prajusha to stamp their class in the women triple jump and complete a clean sweep.

The day also turned out to be good one for the Tamil Nadu contingent, with Ranjith Kumar and S. Saraswathi turning victorious in the men's pole vault and women's javelin throw respectively, much before the curtain of a rather dull day was brought down.

The results: Men: Pole vault: 1. Ranjith Kumar (TN), 4.80m, 2. Geesh Kumar (Ker), 4.70m, 3. Shyju (SSCB), 4.70m.

Women: Triple jump: 1. Anisha K. Vijayan (Ker), 13.26m, 2. Mayookha Johny (Ker), 12.84m, 3. M.A. Prajusha (Ker), 12.38m. Shot put: 1. Saroj Sihag (Har), 14.47m, 2. Manpreet Kumar (Pun), 13.84m, 3. Patwant Kaur (Pun), 13.59m. Javelin throw: 1. S. Saraswathi (TN), 45.93m, 2. Nisha (Har), 45.64m, 3. Megha Paradeshi (Mah), 45.02m.

Hammer throw: 1. Hardeep Kaur (Pun), 59.71m, 2. Ritu Rani (UP), 57.70m, 3. Sukanya Mishra (UP), 52.07m. 20km walk: 1. L. Deepamala Devi (Asm), 1:41:07.20 (NMR; OR - 1:49:51.00), Ravina Antil, Ludhiana, 2001, 2. Amandeep Kaur (Pun), 1:43:43.70, 3. W. Lamganbi Devi (Man), 1: 49:06.70. Heptathlon: 1. J.J. Shobha (AP), 5141 points, 2. Susmita Singha Roy (Ben), 5088, 3. V. Leelavathi (TN), 5060.

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