It has been reported that ONGC’s Dutee Chand has completed a sprint double, to win the 200M gold. On the other side, Indian Railways managed to retain the overall team championships on the final day of the 53rd Open National Athletics Championships at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium in Ranchi on Monday.
Remarkably, the Odisha girl Dutee, who is a bronze medalist at the Asian Championships in Pune, took just 24.02 seconds to finish 300th of second ahead of Chavi Sharawat of Railways in the final on a rain-affected day.
Notably, triple jump national record-holder Renjith Maheswary missed out the gold medal as Arpinder Singh sneaked past by 6 centimetres. In fact, Renjith leapt forward to 16.64 metres to clinch the silver.
Meanwhile, distance runner Suriya Loganathan was another athlete who won a double. Suriya, who is the winner of the 5000M on the opening day, won the 10000M on the final day. Subsequently, M R Poovamma won the women’s 400M in 53.96 seconds on Monday, breezing past Tintu Luka of Railways in a close finish. Tintu clocked just 53.98. Ashwini Akkunji of Karnataka, who made her competitive return, stood fifth in 55.22 seconds just behind Anu Mariam Jose, who finished at 54.59 seconds.
Remarkably, Railways finished with a score of 282 points to win the overall title ahead of Services with 163 points. Services won the men’s title while Railways clinched 180 points and emerged women’s champions.
On the other hand Durgesh Kumar Pal, who is the winner of the men’s 400M hurdles, was proclaimed the best athlete in the men’s title. In contrast, the credit in the women’s section went to Merlin Joseph, who boasts of a national record of 11.35 in the 100M semifinals has attracted interrogation from several quarters.
In the men's segment, Army man Kheta Ram, who hardly missed a podium-finish at the Asian championships, wrested the men's title with a time limit of 29:47.92s.
Particularly, former Asian Junior champion Suresh Kumar Patel of ONGC pushed the Services runner from the beginning of the race and claimed a silver in a plausible 29:48.10s in the 10000m event.
Further, Services' athletes made a clean sweep of medals in 400m. In this category Kunhu Mohammed captured the top spot within 46.51s.
In another event, Chandrodaya Narayan Singh of Uttar Pradesh recaptured the gold in hammer throw after a gap of two years while Parmila of Railways hauled silver in the absence of apex names in the women's discus throw. However, Services team managed to improve their own meet record in men's 4x400m relay.
In a bizarre incident, the tournament concluded in absolute chaos with the closing ceremony, which was attended by state sports minister. The ceremony was held in complete darkness for the whole period following a power blackout.
Unfortunately, the power went off as soon as the closing ceremony commenced at 6pm and the whole Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium descended into complete darkness. Moreover, there was no alternative arrangement made for such an incident by the organizers and the ceremony, which continued for more than an hour, ultimately ended in darkness.
