The Hindu : Sport : Krishnamohan rewrites National 110m hurdles

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Krishnamohan rewrites National 110m hurdles

K. P. Mohan

Shobha crosses 6000 points to qualify for Olympics

— Photo: M. Moorthy

SMOOTH SAILING: Andhra Pradesh’s K. Krishnamohan set a new National record in the 110m hurdles at the Velammal National inter-State athletics championship in Madurai on Wednesday.

MADURAI: K. Krishnamohan clocked a national record of 14.00 seconds in the 110 metres hurdles on the concluding day of the 48th National inter-State athletics championships at the MGR Stadium here on Wednesday.

Running into a headwind measuring one metre per second, Krishnamohan, a 26-year-old Havildar from Artillery, cruised through to the record that bettered Naunidh Singh’s mark of 14.05s set in Hyderabad in 2005.

“I was hoping to dip under 14 seconds,” said the man from Guntur. Perhaps he might have achieved that but for a gush of wind hitting him through the final stretch. It was a faultless performance that came out of the blue, as it were.

The hurdler from Andhra Pradesh had recorded his previous best of 14.18s in the Open National in Hyderabad when Naunidh had his record. The Olympic standard stood at 13.72s.

In a bitter battle for Olympic berths, J. J. Shobha crossed the ‘A’ qualification of 6000 points in heptathlon to make the Beijing grade while Susmita Singha Roy, already the holder of a ‘B’ standard, failed to reach 6000 narrowly.

It was touch and go for Susmita in the last event, the 800 metres, as she required 2:12.7 to make the cut. She made a great effort but failed to meet that target.

Shobha, posting her best in javelin on the second day (41.75) was practically assured of the 6000 mark after five events and she did that without much ado.

Pramila Aiyappa, who led on the first day, dropped out at the 500-metre mark in the 800 metres, giving pace to Susmita after having fallen behind the other two. Soma Biswas had given up after two events on the first day.

Binu wins gold

K. M. Binu, looking for the Olympic qualifying mark of 45.95s, could manage only 46.32 while effortlessly winning the men’s 400 metres gold.

The Athens Olympics semifinalist ran an evenly-paced race, but, like in the semifinals the previous day, could not show his customary finish.

The men’s shot putting standards have been dismal the past few seasons, barring the exploits of Navpreet Singh, who is away in the US, training to attain the Olympic qualification mark. Without him in the field, the contest never picked up, with Satyendra Kumar Singh barely crossing 18 metres for the gold. With just three runners in the fray, the women’s 5000 metres was a formality. Priti Rao won in 17:56.55 without anyone keeping pace with her. The best of Indian distance runners are in the UK now, gearing up for the Beijing Games.

Anuradha Biswal won her umpteenth National title, claiming the 100m hurdles title in 13.82 seconds.

The results: Men: 400m: 1. K. M. Binu (Ker) 46.32, 2. Bipin Mathew (MP) 46.82, 3. S. K. Mortaza (Jharkhand) 47.02; 110m hurdles: 1. K. Krishnamohan (AP) 14.00 (National record, prevous 14.05), 2. Sandeep Parmar (Mah) 14.58, 3. D. Prasad (AP) 14.82; Shot put: 1. Satyendra Kumar Singh (Jharkhand) 18.02, 2. P. V. Giri (MP) 17.73, 3. Mukesh Singh (Del) 17.30;

Women: 5000m: 1. Priti L. Rao (Jharkhand) 17:13.13, 2. M. Sudha (TN) 17:56.55, 3. Reshma Dalvi (Mah) 18:33.81; 100m hurdles: 1. Anuradha Biswal (Ori) 13.82, 2. Poonam Bojanna (Jharkhand) 14.28, 3. Shreema Priyadarshini (Kar) 14.60.

Tuesday’s results: Men: Long jump: 1. Maha Singh (Pun) 7.57, 2. Shamsher Pratap Singh (Pun) 7.56, 3. Rajeev Kumar (Del) 7.51; Decathlon: 1. P.J. Vinod (Ker) 7150, 2. Daya Ram (Jharkhand) 7023, 3. Vikram Singh (Pun) 6718.

Women: Discus: 1. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 61.09, 2. Seema Antil (Har) 58.22, 3. Parbati Sethi (Ori) 45.09.

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