New Delhi: On a day when there were not much action at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, .P. Jaisha of the Indian Railways came up with a smooth performance to clinch the gold in the women’s 1500 metres at the National Open athletics meet on Thursday.

While Jaisha’s timing of 4:11.83 was nowhere near the Sunita Rani’s national record of 4:06.03, set in the Busan Asian Games in 2002, it was the dominance of Jaisha in the event that caught the eye.

Expectedly, Sinimol Paulose of Steel Plant was the only other competitor to pose some challenge to the Railways girl, but Jaisha never let her advantage go and romped home with consummate ease. Both are likely to get the nod of the selectors for the Asian Games.

While Paulose finished second with a timing of 4:12.24, Tamil Nadu’s S Shantibagged the bronze clocking 4:22.93.

The gold in the shot put went another railwayman, Satyendra Singh, who made most in the absence of Navpreet Singh. While the official reason forwarded for Navpreet’s absence was injury, quite a few eyebrows were raised about the ace athlete’s repeated skipping of major meets. He was also missing from the recently held Salwan international throw meet in the capital.

In women’s hammer throw, it was sheer disappointment for Hardeep Kaur, the national record holder. After having thrown 61.10 metres in the Salwan meet only a few days back, her performance dipped rather dramatically here. She threw only 56.58, which could only offer her the silver behind Ritu Rani of Indian Railways (59.23).