The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Joy and agony for Mayookha Johny; Anu Mariam shocks Olympians

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Joy and agony for Mayookha Johny; Anu Mariam shocks Olympians

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

WRITHING IN PAIN: Mayookha Johny twisted her ankle while going for Anju George’s record in triple jump.

KOCHI: As she hopped, stepped and jumped, grace and power surprisingly appeared to go hand in hand. One could see Mayookha Johny slowly getting into the groove.

Her first jump — 13.54m — easily broke her own year-old triple jump meet record by a huge 50 cm in the 69th all-India inter-university athletics championship at the Maharaja’s Stadium here on Monday.

Her next jump — 13.56 — bettered her personal best by two centimetres. Still, the 20-year-old, the country’s most promising athlete, was not satisfied. The Kannur University star was gunning for Anju George’s senior national record of 13.67m!

Then misfortune struck. Mayookha was going for the step phase in her third attempt when she lost balance and twisted her right leg. She grimaced in pain as she hit the mud.

Joy and agony came hand in hand for Mayookha on Monday. She had hurt her right leg five days ago while climbing the stairs at the hotel and seemed to aggravate the injury.

Mayookha was sent on a stretcher to the medical room and later taken to hospital. Her injury could take a couple of weeks to heal, said her coach.

After a dry Sunday, the meet came alive with a shower of records on Monday.

It was a dramatic day too. Kannur’s Anu Mariam Jose, who has virtually lived in the shadows of Sini Jose and M. R. Poovamma for the last couple of days here, pulled off the biggest surprise of the championship when she jolted the two Olympians to win the women’s 400m.

Thrilled

“I’m shocked,” said Anu, a first year BA student of Krishna Menon College who is coached by Tomy Cherian and Ajay Raj. “I beat two Olympians and not even in my wildest dreams did I think I would win this race,” she added.

Both host MGU’s Sini and Mangalore’s Poovamma suffered a slow start but the two appeared to make up lost ground by the halfway mark.

The two Olympians appeared to exhaust all their reserves on the home stretch while Anu pushed up an extra gear and powered her way to her maiden sub-54s timing which broke the two-year-old record.

The results: Men: 400m: 1. P. P. Kunhimuhammed (Calicut) 47.81s, 2. Jithin Paul (Calicut) 47.82, 3. J. Premanand (Annamalai) 48.02.

1,500m: 1. Sudeer Kumar (Rajasthan, Jaipur) 3:56.84s, 2. Vinit Malik (Punjab, Chandigarh) 3:57.6, 3. Gopal Singh (HNB Gharwal, Srinagar) 3:57.97. High jump: 1. Girish Chand Dubey (VBS Purvanchal, UP) 2.02m, 2. Saiju Saimon (MGU, Kottayam) 2.02 & Navin Singh (Mumbai) 2.02.

Discus: 1. Rashpal Singh (Punjab, Chandigarh) 50.46m, 2. Hardeep Singh (Punjabi, Patiala) 48.42, 3. Om Prakash Singh (Punjabi, Patiala) 47.86.

Javelin: 1. Samarjit Singh (Punjabi, Patiala) 65.10m, 2. Krishna Nand Tripathi (Allahabad) 64.80, 3. Gurmeet Singh (GNDU, Amritsar) 62.76.

Women: 400m: 1. Anu Mariam Jose (Kannur) 53.93s NMR (OR Jasmin Joseph, MGU, 54.88, 2006), 2. Sini Jose (Mahatma Gandhi, Kottayam) 55.48, 3. M. R. Poovamma (Mangalore) 57.3.

Triple jump: 1. Mayookha Johny (Kannur) 13.56m NMR (OR own, 13.04, 2007); 2. Shraddha Ghule (Mumbai) 12.91, 3. Gayathri (Anna, Chennai) 12.67.

Pole vault: 1. K.C. Dija (Kannur) 3.25m NMR (OR Sithara Ellath, MGU, 2.90, 2007); 2. Sithara T. Ellath (MGU) 3.20 BMR, 3. K. P. Anusha (Calicut) 3.15 BMR (first six bettered meet record). Half-marathon: 1. Navjoban Kaur (Punjab, Chandigarh) 1:15.86s NMR (OR Jishi Joseph, MGU, 1:29.2, 2000); 2. Sukanya Mall (DDU Gorakhpur) 1:18.10 BMR, 3. M. V. Remeswari (Calicut) 1:19.53 BMR).

Javelin: 1. Rupinder Kaur (GNDU, Amritsar) 41.13m, 2. K. B. Nirup (Mangalore) 39.94, 3. Rudra Tomar (Jiwaji, Gwalior) 39.40.

Sunday’s results: Men’s 110m hurdles: 1. T. Siddhanth (Mumbai) 14.8s, 2. Joyal Joseph (MGU, Kottayam) 14.81, 3. M. Krish Beethovan (Bharathiar, Coimbatore) 14.82.

Women’s 100m hurdles: 1. C. T. Raji (Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram) 14.28s, 2. Gayathri (Anna, Chennai) 14.45, 3. P. M. Manju (MGU, Kottayam) 14.83.

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