THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rezoana Heena Mallik of West Bengal set the only national record in the 4th National Open 400m Championships at LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram on Monday as mass withdrawals from leading athletes robbed the sheen of the event.
Rezoana completed the U-16 race in 53.22 seconds, erasing the national record set by Anjana Thamke in 2012. Rezoana, who was competing in her first national 400m race, also holds the record in the U-16 300m race.
“I was confident of completing the race on top as I was hitting good timings during practice. This result was important to gain confidence and experience before the Junior National Athletics next week,” said Rezoana. Rezoana didn’t face much competition as Mansi Bharekar of Maharashtra, who came second in the race,finished with a timing of 56.77 seconds. Nethra M (57.66 sec) of Tamil Nadu came third. Kerala’s only representative in the final, Pixy Gulia, a trainee of PT Usha School of Athletics, finished fourth with a timing of 58.64 sec.
Muhammed Ajmal V won the men’s 400m category and was the only Kerala athlete to win a medal in the championship. Ajmal, who was the fastest in the heats and semifinals, continued his fine form in the final and crossed the finish line in 46.90 seconds. Rahul Ramesh Kadam (47.51 sec) of Maharashtra and Santhosh Kumar T (47.72) of Tamil Nadu came second and third respectively.
In the women’s section, Dandi Jyothika Sri of Andhra Pradesh secured gold with a timing of 53.26 seconds. Dandi Jyothika faced stiff competition from Aishwarya Kailash Mishra of Maharashtra, who missed gold by 0.23 seconds. Kiran Pahal of Haryana came third with a timing of 54.29. Kerala’s Gowrinandana (54.64 sec) and Sandra AS (56.65 sec) finished fourth and sixth respectively in the event.
With the Junior National Athletics and All India Inter-University Meet set to begin next week, many top athletes decided to skip the Open Championships at Thiruvananthapuram. This forced the organisers to cancel the heats and semifinals of the U-20, U-18 and U-16 categories as only six or fewer athletes appeared for competition.
Results: Men: Senior: 1 Muhammed Ajmal V (Kerala 46.90 sec) 2 Rahul Ramesh Kadam (Maharashtra, 47.51 sec) 3. Santhosh Kumar T (Tamil Nadu 47.72 sec); U-20: 1 Barath S (Tamil Nadu 47.832 sec), 2.Suraj A A (Tamil Nadu 48.25 sec), 3 Abishek R (Tamil Nadu 48.25 sec); U-18: 1. Ayush Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh, 50.42 sec) 2 Himanshu Sharma (Uttar Pradesh, 50.52 sec) 3. Mohan Kumar (Uttar Pradesh, 50.92 sec); 1 Nithin M (Karnataka, 51.22 sec) 2 Aryan Tyagi (Delhi, 51.65 sec), 3 Sourav Dahiya (Haryana, 52.60 sec)
