Jamshedpur: Tamil Nadu’s Shanthi won the women’s 800m at the Tata Steel-AFI Athletic Meet at the J.R.D Tata Sports Complex on Sunday.
The meet has been organised by Tata Steel to select the Indian contingent for the forthcoming Asian Track and Field Championships to be held in South Korea in September.
Shanti won in 2:05.39, followed by Rupinder Kaur (Punjab) in 2:06.19 and Tata Atheletics Academy cadet Sinimole Paulose in 2:06.64.
Busan Asian Games gold medallist Sunita Rani was fourth in 2:07.36.
In the men’s 800m, last year’s South Asian Federation Games silver medallist, Ghamanda Ram of Rajasthan, grabbed gold in 1:46.81. He was followed by Josemon Mathew (Karnataka) in 1:48.60 and P. Francis Sagayaraj (Tamil Nadu) in 1:48. 92.
In the 3000m steeplechase, Andhra Pradesh’s Arun D’Souza, who won the silver medal at the Afro-Asian Games in 2003, emerged champion in a time of 8.59.51. Bhagiwan Diwakar Giri (UP) and C.D. Basavaraj (Karnataka) were second and third in 9:11.80 and 9:36.64, respectively.
In the morning, Bengal’s Y.Bala Devi and Haryana’s Sandeep clinched first place in the women’s and men’s section 20km walks.
Bala Devi, who finshed in 1:45:09, was followed by Amandeep Kaur of Punjab in 1:46:09 and Deepmala Devi of Manipur) in 1:46:43. Sita Ram (Rajasthan) grabbed second place in the men’s in 1:33:23, followed by Gurmit Singh (Punjab) in 1:34:28.
Bengal’s Huma Khatun emerged champion in the junior girl 800m finishing in 2:09.90. Ashwini A.C. (Jharkhand) and Liji Raju (Madhya Pradesh) were second and third, respectively.
Jharkhand boy Amit Kumar Mishra, a Tata Athletic Academy Cadet, won the junior boy’s 800m, clocking 1:51.89.
He was followed by Ramjan Khan (Rajasthan) and Ajay Kumar Yadav (Jharkhand), who finished in 1:52.96 and 1:53.54, respectively.
In the junior men’s 5,000m, Brijesh Kumar Singh of Jharkhand (15:30.21) came in ahead of Arvind Kumar Yadav (UP, 15:32.22) and Kashinath Aswak (Maharashtra, 15:30.82), respectively.
Kerala’s .P. Jaysa and Uttar Pradesh’s Kuldeep Kumar emerged champions in the women and men’s 5000m, timing 17:05.33 and 14:38.10, respectively.
