The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Seema Antil retains discus title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 13, 2007
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Sport - Athletics

Seema Antil retains discus title

Amitabha Das Sharma

GETTING IT RIGHT: Seema Antil of CRPF won the discus throw event. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KOLKATA: Seema Antil retained the discus throw title in the XIIIth Federation Cup athletics championships here on Saturday.

Seema, representing CRPF, nudged her closest rival Krishna Poonia of Rajasthan with a throw of 58.09m to claim the top spot after a long break.

Though Seema was far from her best of 64.64m that fetched her the National record in a circuit meet (now changed to Indian Grand Prix) in Chennai in June 2004, she said she would like to gradually take off and hit her best in the ensuing Asian Championships in Beirut scheduled in July.

Krishna, who won the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala earlier this month with a throw of 58.80 metres, could reach only 57.02m in her fourth attempt on Saturday. This came after Antil had produced the best distance of the day in her third attempt.

Notable comeback

The women's section saw another notable comeback in Chitra Soman of ONGC. She won the 400m, displacing the favourite Manjit Kaur. Unable to do much in the previous two seasons, Chitra — who won an Asian Grand Prix title in Manila in 2004 — came up with a great performance and led the field almost from the start to claim her first major championship title.

Manjit, bothered by a back injury, finished third while Illeena Samantha of Andhra Pradesh took the second spot, clocking 53.47s.

Naunidh Singh of Border Security Force became the fastest hurdler, winning the 110m event. Unlike most other cases, the event had all the best runners in the discipline.

Joseph Abraham of CRPF won the men's 400m while P.S. Jalan of Army won the men's 20 km walk. Last year's champion Army, with 92 points, topped the men's discipline at the end of the third day's events while host Bengal led the women's section with 60 points.

The results: Men: 400m: 1. Joseph Abraham (CRPF) 46.89; 2. Sarish Paul (Army) 47.37; 3. Vinay Chaudhary (UP) 47.63. 4x100m relay: 1. Jharkhand (Rohit Hawal, Ajay Nayak, Prakash, Ritesh Anand) 41.49; 2. Army 41.62; 3. Tamil Nadu 41.66; 20km walk: 1. P.S. Jalan (Army) 1:34:20.3; 2. Babu Bhai (Mah) 1:34:33.1; 3. Samundro Singh (Army) 1:36: 41.9. Pole vault: 1. Navin Kumar (Army) 4.90m; 2. Bijender Singh (Army) 4.80; 3. Sundar Singh (BSF) 4.60. Javelin: 1. Anil Kumar (Har) 73.61m; 2. Sunil Goswami (Del) 72.72; 3. Om Narayan (Har) 71.08. 110m hurdles: Naunidh Singh (BSF) 14.29; 2. P. Muthusamy (TN) 14.38; Rohit Hawal (Jhar) 14.52. Long jump: Rajesh R. (Ker) 7.68m; 2. Bhartender Singh (Har) 7.35; 3. K.J. Clinton (Ker) 7.34.

Women: 400m: Chitra Soman (ONGC) 53.43; 2. Iyleen Samantha (AP) 53.47; 3. Manjit Kaur (Pun Pol) 53.86; 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 14.01; Poonam Bojwana (kar) 14.13; J.J. Shobha (AP) 14.32; 4x100 m relay: - 1. Tamil Nadu (Leelavathi, Sharada Narayana, A. Papthi, Kasturi) 48.43; 2. Andhra Pradesh 48.44; 3. Kerala 49.37; Pole vault: 1. M. Madhusini Devi (UP) 3.50m, 2. Tapasi Nandy (Ben) 3.10; Triple jump: 1. Manisha Dey (Ben) 12.62m; 2. Alka Chekly A.P. (Ker); 3. Sarbjit (CRPF) 12.29; Discus: 1. Seema Antil (CRPF) 58.09m; Krishna Punia (Raj) 57.02; 3. Harwant Kaur (Punjab Police) 55.38.