The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Rajeev clocks career best in 800m

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 30, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Rajeev clocks career best in 800m

K.P. Mohan

Anju still off qualifying mark

PUNE: Anju George improved upon her Asian Grand Prix performance on Friday but her 6.42 metres was still off the long jump qualifying mark for the Osaka World championships.

As Anju faced the media, at the end of her competition that was part of the National Combined events and Jumps championships, she looked a lot more confident than she was two days ago at the same venue. Then she had touched just 6.21 metres, following her 6.28 in the Guwahati leg.

The qualifying mark of 6.60m for Osaka looks that much closer after Friday and Anju pointed out two of her three foul jumps that looked to land beyond 6.50m to argue the point that she was getting back into her rhythm.

Good show

Away from the glare of the electronic media, R. Rajeev, the 23-year-old Kerala man clocked a career-best 1:47.93 in the 800 metres that was held as trials for the Asian championships. Paced by Chatholi Hamza, Rajeev, Sajeesh Joseph and Francis Sagayaraj made it a rousing contest from 200 metres out before the Alappuzha youngster nosed ahead for a fine finish. His timing is the best by an Indian since K.M. Binu clocked 1:47.89 at Patiala in April 2004.

Rajeev had timed his previous best of 1:48.64 while coming fourth behind Sagayaraj, Hamza and Joseph in the Federation Cup in Kolkata last month. Though he is still way off the qualifying mark of 1:46.60 for Osaka, coach Nikolai Snesarev was happy that he and several of his other trainees had clocked personal bests this season.

Another man from the Snesarev stable, Surendra Singh, failed in his attempt.

Sinimole wins

Sinimole Paulose timed 2:04.65 while winning the women’s 800m trial, with Vijila (2:06.18) and Frency Thomas (2:07.08) clocking their personal bests.

Jora Singh expectedly pulled away from the rest on the second day of the decathlon with strong performance in discus (46.39m) and pole vault (4.40m) and a personal best of 59.95m in javelin for the title at 7001 points. The results: Boys (under-16): Long jump: 1. Shavnak Verekar (Goa) 5.81, 2. Vinay Bind (MP) 5.76, 3. Jagdish Kajiretti (Goa) 5.25; Pentathlon: 1. Shreyas Khade (Mah) 2611, 2. A. Dinakaran (TN) 2484, 3. R. Vijay Clemen t (TN) 1557.

Boys (under-18): High jump: 1. Navin Singh (Mah) 2.00, 2. A.M. Abdual Khader (TN) 1.80, 3. Anand Kamathe (Mah) 1.80; Long jump: 1. B. Azarudeen (TN) 6.78, 2. Tejas Salian (Mah) 6.55, 3. Sabha Bhagat (Mah) 6.33; Ocathlon: 1. Navjot Singh (Har) 5152, 2. Ajit Singh (Har) 4899, 3. B. Azarudeen (TN) 4893.

Junior men (under-20): High jump: 1. S. Ananda Kumar (TN) 1.90, 2. Uttam Dhaval (Mah) 1.70, 3. Mayur Suravase (Mah) 1.70; Decathlon: 1. Davender Singh (Har) 5475, 2. Rakesh Kumar (Har) 5307, 3. J. Praveen Anand (TN) 5074.

Men: Decathlon: 1. Jora Singh (Del) 7001, 2. P.J. Vinod (Ker) 6893, 3. Ram Niwas (Har) 6613.

Girls (under-16): Pentathlon: 1. Bhavya Mandanna (Kar) 2466, 2. Aparna Murali (Kar) 2217, 3. Diksha Nagvekar (Goa) 2112.

Girls (under-18): High jump: 1. Aishwarya G.M. (Kar) 1.59, 2. Parathana Nanaiah (Kar) 1.56, 3. Dayona Stanley (Ker) 1.50; Heptathlon: 1. Anatana Khatun (Ben) 4285, 2. Dayona Stanley (Ker) 3788, 3. Minaxi Karapvrkar ( Goa) 2166.

Women: Long jump: 1. Anju George (TN) 6.42, 2. M.J. Prajusha (Ker) 6.05, 3. Reshmi Bose (Ker) 5.95; Heptathlon: 1. Susmita Singha Roy (Ben) 5137, 2. Sinimol M.P. (Ker) 4851, 3. D. Karpuramala (TN) 4088.

Trials: Men: 800m: 1. Rajeev R. 1:47.93, 2. Sajeesh Joseph 1:48.60, 3. Francis Sagayaraj 1:48.71; 10,000m: 1. Surendra Singh 29:22.63, 2. Santosh Kumar 29:38.67, 3. Sita Ram 30:44.03.

Women: 800m: 1. Sinimole Paulose 2:04.65, 2. Vijila A. 2:06.18, 3. Frency Thomas 2:07.08; 10,000m: 1. Kavita Raut 35:12.73, 2. Preethi Rao 36:46.98.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport
News: ePaper | Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Jobs | Updates: Breaking News |