Piyush, Sahil hog the limelight

As majority of the athletes struggled to overcome the early season blues, Piyush Raj (Bihar) and Sahil Malik (Uttarakhand) came up with sizzling performances in boys under-20 category in the Indian Open 400m meet at the LNCPE Athletics stadium on Saturday.

Piyush (47.11) and Sahil (47.28s) came first and second respectively and punched their tickets to the World Under-20 athletics championships by coming under the qualifying mark of 47.40s.

Piyush reserved his energy for the final after finishing the qualifying race with a modest timing of 48.23. However, in the final, Piyush came up with a dizzying run at the second curve and motored past Sahil to finish first.

Rajesh Ramesh (TN) came up with a strong kick in the final 100 metres to overcome a spirited challenge from T.S. Manu (NCOE) to win the men’s 400m in 45.26s. Manu clocked 45.96 for silver while Amoj Jacob, who won race C, came third in 45.99.

The women’s 400m was weakened by the pull outs of national campers Jyothika Sri, Hima Das and Manisha Kumari. However, R. Vithya Ramraj, who had the best timing in the heats, came up with a good run in the home stretch to win in 53.31s. G.K. Vijayakumari and Poovama Raju finished second and third respectively.

The results: Men: 1. Rajesh Ramesh (TN) (45.26s), 2. T.S. Manu (NCOE) (45.96), 3. Amoj Jacob (Delhi) (45.99).

Boys: Under-20: 1. Piyush Raj (Bihar) (47.11), 2. Sahil Malik (Uttarakhand) (47.28), 3. Edvin Mathew (Kerala) (47.65).

Under-18: 1. Sayeed Sabeer (Karnataka) (47.73), 2. Thanish Vijay Gaddam (NCOE) (48.31).

Women: 1. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN) (53.31), 2. G.K. Vijayakumari (Karnataka) (53.55), 3. Poovamma Raju (ONGC) (53.61), Girls: Under-20: 1. Reshma (UP) (54.84), 2. Isha Rajesh Jadhav (Maharashtra) (55.46), 3. A. Dharani (TN) (55.63).

Under-18: 1. Kashish Bhagat (Maharashtra) (56.46), 2. M. Nethra (TN) (59.54), 3. Ashaben Chaudhary (Gujarat) (59.62).