Kozhikode, Apr 2 (Sports News) Long distance runners Kartik Kumar and Sanjivani Jadhav as well as pole vaulter Rosy Meena Paul produced personal best efforts to claim gold medals on an action-packed opening day of the Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships here on Saturday.

In the other events of the day, Aishwarya Mishra ran an impressive race to clock a personal best time of 52.41 seconds en route to women's 400m final, while national record holder long jumper M Sreeshankar crossed 8m mark yet again.

Aishwarya of Maharashtra shaved 2.19 seconds off her previous best time of 54.60 to win her heat race and qualify as the top-ranked athlete for the final.

However, the much-anticipated 100m clash between Dutee Chand and Hima Das will not happen as the latter pulled out of the heat races over the distance to concentrate on World Championships qualification in 200m.

Hima had entered her name for the 100m as well as 200m races. But, Saturday's 100m start list did not have the Assamese runner's name in it.

National record holder Dutee qualified for 100m final, winning heat number one in a time of 11.51. She did not enter her name in 200m.

"There is no issue with Hima Das. She did not run in 100m heats today because she wanted to concentrate on World Championships qualification in 200m. She will run in 200m," Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.

Hima has a personal best time of 22.88 seconds in 200m which she ran in 2021 while the qualification time for World Championships in Eugene, USA, is 22.80 seconds. She will have to break Saraswati Saha's 22.82 second national record if she has to qualify for the World Championships.

Nair also said that officials from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) have arrived here from New Delhi to collect dope samples from the athletes. In the 10000m race final, Kumar, a bronze medallist at the Asian Junior Championships in 2018, established himself as one of India's brightest long distance runners with a maiden Federation Cup 10000m gold medal by clocking 29:20.21s.

The Services runner produced the fastest time by an Indian in AFI competitions since Murli Kumar Gavit's 28:38.34 in the 2019 Asian Championships in Doha.

The 22-year-old positioned himself in the lead bunch through the race, pulling away with four laps to go and building a sufficient lead to hold back a late sprint by Sawan Barwal (Himachal Pradesh).

In the women's 10000m, Sanjivani Jadhav pulled away from Seema (Himachal Pradesh) after 10 laps to get a personal best time of 33:13.07.

The 25-year-old finished 1 minute 3 seconds off the 32:10.18 set by the AFI as the Asian Games qualifying mark.

Rosy Meena of Tamil Nadu became only the fifth Indian woman pole vaulter to clear 4.00m to win gold from her team-mate Baranica Elangovan by 10cm. Haryana’s Pooja cleared 3.80m to take the bronze.

Aishwarya's 400m heat time on Saturday earned her place among the top 10 Indian women quartermilers in the past decade and is the second fastest this year behind the 52.37 that Priya Mohan clocked in the Indian Grand Prix 1 in Thiruvananthapuram last month.

The experienced MR Poovamma held her own as she won her heat race with a measure of comfort, clocking 53.83 seconds.

Amoj Jacob (Delhi), Muhammed Ajmal (Kerala) and two Tamil Nadu athletes Rajesh Ramesh and T Santhosh Kumar produced sub-47-second times, while Noah Nirmal Tom (Kerala) came home in 47.00 in the 400m semifinals to raise expectations of a keen contest for the men’s quarter-mile medals.

The seasoned Arokia Rajiv missed out on a place in the final.

Sreeshankar (Kerala) laid down the gauntlet in the men's long jump qualifying round with a leap of 8.09m. Jeswin Aldrin, jumping with a 2.4mps wind assisting him, hit sand at 7.94m to raise expectations of a thrilling final on Sunday afternoon.

The morning session was marked by Tamil Nadu's A Vignesh and G Kathiravan leaving the established sprinter Gurindervir Singh in third place in the 100m heats.

Gurindervir did not start the semifinals where another Tamil Nadu sprinter B Siva Kumar emerged the fastest of the qualifiers with a time of 10.47 seconds.

Stalin Joes (Tamil Nadu) rode on his sprinting skills to hold a slender four-point lead over Boota Singh (Haryana) at the end of five events in Decathlon.

With a 11.24 second 100m dash, a 6.95m long jump and a 51.96 second 400m run, he was able to paper over a 10.31m shot put effort that set him back considerably. He also had a 1.77m effort in high jump.

More than 500 athletes, including 158 women, are vying for top honours in the five-day event, the season's first major domestic championships with the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Asian Games lining up later in the season.

The AFI has laid down qualifying standards for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in Hangzhou.

The Results (finals): Men: 10000m: 1. Kartik Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 29:20.21; 2. Sawan Barwal (Himachal Pradesh) 29:21.29; 3. Gulveer Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 29:22.44.

Women: 10000m: 1. Sanjivani Babur Jadhav (Maharashtra) 33:13.07; 2. Seema (Himachal Pradesh) 34:31.44; 3. Kavita Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 34:56.42.

Pole Vault: 1. Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) 4.00m; 2. Baranica Elangovan (Tamil Nadu) 3.90; 3. Pooja (Haryana) 3.80. 

Also Read : Federation Cup: Kamalpreet, Anas miss out as Hima, Dutee are star attractions

News Source : PTI