The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Alphonsa College women and MA College men triumph

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Sport - Athletics

Alphonsa College women and MA College men triumph

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: H. Vibhu

S. Arunjith

KOCHI: As she neared the finishing line of a long sporting career, Tessymol Joseph was forced to battle a painful ankle and a problem shoe before winning a gold and a silver within the space of a few minutes at the sixth M.K. Joseph memorial State inter-club athletics championship here on Sunday.

Mumbai Central Railway’s Tessymol, Kerala’s best high jumper after Bobby Aloysius and representing the SAI-LNCPE here, was forced to sprint between the triple jump and high jump events a few times at the Maharaja’s Stadium this afternoon.

“Unfortunately, the two are often clashing, so it’s a big problem for me,” said the 28-year-old.

“But I want to quit sport by the end of this year, get married and settle down, so I want to give the next few meets my best shot.”

Hard battle

She had a hard battle with young star Mayookha Johny in the women’s triple jump, so she reserved her best for the event.

Minutes after posting a personal best 13.17m for the triple jump silver, behind Mayookha’s golden 13.20, Tessymol rushed to the high jump area.

When she entered the fray, at 1.70m, the rest of the high jumpers were through with their job — the silver went for 1.63m.

And despite the ankle pain and the sole of a high jump spike which threatened to come off any time, Tessymol carried on bravely.

Golden first jump

Her first jump brought her the gold. Since the seniors are making their debut at the inter-club meet, they cannot break any records here. So Tessymol asked for 1.79m, hoping to go past her personal best 1.78m — which is also the current State inter-district record — but failed twice.

Meanwhile, Kollam SAI’s national champion S. Arunjith completed a sprint double after winning the men’s 200m rather comfortably. He had won the 100m earlier and emerged as the fastest man of the meet.

Kothamangalam teams, Mar Basil HSS and St. George HSS, dominated the boys’ sections while Kannur Sports Division topped the three girls categories.

Kothamangalam’s MA College (men) and Pala’s Alphonsa College bagged the men’s and women’s team titles.

The records:

Boys: Under-20: 10,000m: T. Muhammed Ali (MA Coll., Koth., 33:59.54s; OR 34:2.7). Javelin throw: S. Sumesh (St. Dominic’s, Kanjirappally, 56.77m; OR Anish Krishnan’s 56.17).

Under-18: 200m: M.M. Sreeraj (Mar Basil HSS, Koth., 22.54s; OR K. Shereef’s 22.7s).

Under-16: 200m: Bichu Babu (SAI, Thrissur, 23.05s; OR M.M. Sreeraj’s 23.2). 2000m: F. Jijomon (St George HSS, Koth., 5:54.86s; OR K.S. Sujumon’s 6:7).

Girls: Under-20: 1500m: Manju Mathew (Alphonsa Coll., Pala 4:53.88s; OR Shameena Jabbar’s 4:54.9). 3000m: M.V. Remeswari (Parali HS, 10:24s; OR Jijimol Jacob’s 10:43.9). 400m hurdles: K.A.Sonika (Usha School of Ath., 1:3.24s; OR K.R. Radhika’s 1:5.3). Heptathlon: Liksy Joseph (Assumption Coll., Chgy, 4,385 pts; OR S. Aparna’s 4065).

Under-18: 1500m: V.V. Sobha (Parali HS, 4:48.46s, OR Jijimol Jacob’s 4:52.4s). 5000m race walk: P. Renuka (Malabar SA, Pullurampara, 26:26s, OR V.S. Sandhya’s 26:33).

Team champions: Men: M.A. College, Kothamangalam (79 pts). Boys, under-20: SAI, Thrissur (62). Under-18: Mar Basil HSS, Kothamanglam (45). Under-16: St. George HSS, Kothamanglam (52). Under-14: JJMMHSS, Vendayar (22).

Women: Alphonsa College, Pala (87 pts). Girls’ under-20: Assumption College, Chgy (92). Under-18: Sports Division, Kannur (65.5). Under-16: Sports Division, Kannur (66). Under-14: Sports Division, Kannur (35).