Day of upsets on Day 3 of National Inter-State Athletics Championships

National record and meet record-holder Siddhanth Thingalaya of Maharashtra managed to keep his reputation intact by winning the men’s 110m hurdles but it was a day of upsets as many stars bit the dust on the third day of the 60th National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships at NSNIS, Patiala on Sunday.

Most prominent among them was Manjit Singh, the 1500m 2018 Jakarta Asian Games gold medal winner, who was forced to contend for the bronze medal behind Krishna Kumar of Haryana and Anu Kumar of Uttarakhand.

Krishna set the pace and led from start to finish with a time of 1 minute 50.15 seconds. Anu, lying at the bottom of the second bunch, overtook Manjit from the right zone with a sudden burst in the home stretch. Manjit was boxed and struggled to finish third.

In women’s 400m heats, relay specialist Vismaya VK, Asiad gold medallist in women’s 4x400m and Asian meet silver medallist in both women’s and mixed relays, was pushed to third in the third heat and failed to qualify for the final. Her time of 55.33 was outside the first 8 top finishers. PT Usha-trainee Jisna Mathew’s timing (55.02s) too was nothing to boast off, but she managed to reach the final.

Both the runners are part of India’s 4x400m relay team which is expected to make the Olympic qualification on the basis of timings on World Athletics rankings. The event is slated to be held on the final day on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Kerala trio of Eldhose Paul, Karthik U and Abdullah Aboobacker made it 1-2-3 in the men’s triple jump, an event which also featured Tejaswin Shankar of Delhi, who on Saturday failed to make it in his favourite event, high jump.

Results Day 3

MEN 5000m: Kartik Kumar (UTTAR PRADESH, 14:42.76s), Adesh Yadav (Maha, 14:45.45s), Arjun Kumar (UP, 15:01.21); 110m hurdles: Siddhanth Umananda Thingalaya (Mah, 14.11s), Mohammed Fais C (Ker, 14.34s), Amrinder Singh Aulakh (Punjab, 14.48s); 800m: Krishan Kumar (Har, 1:50.15s), Anu Kumar (Uttarakhand, 1:51.05s), Manjit Singh (Haryana, 1:51.44s); 400m (qualified for final): Jashanpreet Singh (Pun), Sarthak Bhambri (Del), Kaliga Kumarage (Sri Lanka), Alex A (Ker), Vikrant Panchal (Har), Jashanjot Singh (Pun), Karanpreet Singh (Pun), Rashid (Del); triple jump: Eldhose Paul (Ker, 16.58m), Karthik U (Ker, 16.54m), Abdulla Aboobacker (Ker, 16.37m); discu throw: Kirpal Singh (Pun, 58.90m), Harpreet Singh (Pun, 57.73m), Gagandeep Singh (Pun, 56.33m).

WOMEN Pole Vault: Baranica Elangovan (TN, 3.90m), Babita Patel (MP, 3.40m), Rosy Meena Paulraj (TN,3.30m); high jump: Angel P Devasia (Kerala, 1.65m), Giji George Stephen (TN, 1.60m); 800m: Harmilan Bains (Punjab, 2:02.57s), Chanda (Delhi, 2:03.36s), Nimali Liyanaarachchi (Sri Lanka, 2:05.69s); 400m (qualified for final): Jisna Mathew (Ker), Rachna (har), Priya Habbathanahally Moha (Karnataka), Poovamma Raju (Knk), Subha Venkatesan (TN), Revathi Veeramani V (TN), Nadeesha Ramanayake (Sri Lanka), Kiran Pahal (Haryana); Heptathlon: Sonu Kumari (Har, 5004), Kajal (Har, 4740), Madhu (Har, 4357).