Dominate performance by triple jumpers on Day-3 of Inter-State Athletics Meet

Paperman Media ( Bhubaneswar )- Six male triple jumpers were among 13 aspiring athletes breaching Japan Asian Games qualification standards in their respective events on the third day of the 65th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship here at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium on Friday.

The AFI (Athletics Federation of India) selection committee will decide the Asian Games bound contingent after the conclusion of the Bhubaneswar competition. Two athletes will represent in each of the track and field events.

Hammer throwers set the ball rolling in the evening session. Punjab’s Damneet Singh hurled an iron ball to a distance of 69.72m to win gold and a better Asian Games qualification mark of 69.12m. Rajasthan’s Praveen Kumar's silver winning efforts of 69.58m were also good enough to qualify for the Asian Games.

After the hammer throw final, a dominant performance was witnessed at the discus throw arena. Three Haryana throwers---Seema, Sanya Yadav and Nidhi—finished in that order—better the Asian Games qualification mark of 55.48m.

Men’s triple jump was the third field event that saw top six leading jumpers achieve the Asian Games qualification mark of 16.28m. Praveen Chithravel won gold with an opening jump of 16.92m,

Away from the field events, national record holder Tejas Shrise was a comfortable winner in the men’s 110m hurdles. His winning time of 13.61 seconds was better than Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games qualification time of 13.63 seconds.

The women’s 400m hurdles heats saw Vithya Ramraj of Tamil Nadu posting a time of 56.69 seconds to stay on course for an Asian Games berth.