The Hindu : Sport : Brijesh, Mandeep strike gold

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Brijesh, Mandeep strike gold

Principal Correspondent

ATHLETICS / Boys’ race began an hour late and after some confusion

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

NEW RECORD: Brijesh Patel, who won the u-19 1,500m gold by setting a new mark in Kochi on Friday.

KOCHI: She could not watch her brother running the 1,500 metres as she was focusing on her own run which followed a few minutes later.

Good too, for Punjab’s Mandeep Kaur had plenty of work to do in the under-19 girls’ metric mile in the 12th CBSE National athletic championship which began at the Maharaja’s College Stadium here on Friday.

After playing a patient waiting game, shadowing the leaders, the 11th standard student of DAV, Bilga, made her move with just about 20m to go. She slipped past the race leader Poonam and pulled off a brilliant win.

“What happened to my brother Karamjit,” Mandeep, who won two gold last year, asked after the race.

Karamjit could only finish fifth in the boys’ 1,500m, an event which saw the top four finishers break the three-year-old meet record.

The boys’ race began an hour late and after some confusion. First the athletes were told that the race would be held midway through the opening ceremony, then came an announcement that it would held after the function.

A little later, after the competition’s technical officials advised the organisers that it would be too dark to conduct the event if there was a delay, there was a change of mind and the race began.

There was plenty of drama too and a surprise hurdle for the runners. As the boys took a corner towards the end of the first lap, they found a television cameraman to their horror on the first lane. After taking a small diversion, Purushotam was at the top of the pack.

But Brijesh Patel of Bhopal’s Vikram HSS, upped a gear after the penultimate corner and hung on for his gold.

“I took to running just two years ago. I’ve also won a bronze in the junior National cross country,” said the 18-year-old Brijesh who won two gold in the championship last year.

Former High Court Judge, K.P. Radhakrishna Menon, inaugurated the five-day meet in a colourful function which was presided over by Ashok Ganguly, the CBSE Board Chairman.

Maya Mohan, Principal of the host school, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala, welcomed the gathering.

The Ernakulam District Collector, A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, Indian cricketer S. Sreesanth and Swami Tejomayananda, the head of the Central Chinmaya Mission Trust (Mumbai), were among those who attended the opening ceremony.

The results:

U-19 boys: 1,500m: 1. Brijesh Patel (HE Vikram HSS, Bhopal, 4:08.57s, NMR, OR 4:11.3, Rakesh Rohilla, Pooja Modern PS, Haryana, 2005), 2. Dinesh Kumar Patel (Swami Harsewanand School, 4:08.83, BMR), 3. Purushotam (BRJD PS, Bhorugram, 4:09.88).

U-19 girls: 1,500m: 1. Mandeep Kaur (SRT DAV, Bilga, 5:24.42s), 2. Poonam (RPS, M/Garh, 5:26.63), 3. Kiran Kumari (DAV, Gaya, 5:28.59).

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