Kochi: Kerala retained the title of national junior athletics championship in thrilling fashion and the talented Jessy Joseph gave a stellar display of her talents by smashing the national record in Bengaluru on Saturday .
Jessy bettered her own national junior record of 2:08.67 by 0.02 seconds in the under-18 girls 800m and in the process, erased the meet record of 2:10.32 min held by Olympian Tintu Luka since 2006.
Long distance runner P.U. Chithra, who had expressed her desire to turn to 800m after a triple gold in the recently concluded state schools athletics, clocked 2:13.24 for gold in the under-20 category .
The champions finished the evnt on a high by clinching 82 medals of which 31 were gold.
Kerala took the title with 585 points, Tamil Nadu finished on 361.5.
SELECTED RESULTS: Girls Under-16 200m: 1. Jisna Mathew, Ker, 25.35 sec; 2. Tiasha Samadder, WB, 26.02; Siddhi Hiray, Mah, 26.13.
Under-18 200m: 1. Shaharbana Sidhique, Ker, 25.51 sec; 2.
Vijayakumari G. K., Kar, 25.66; 3. A.Chandralekha, TN, 25.84 Under-18 800m: 1. Jessy Joseph, Ker, 2:08.65; 2. Therese Joseph, Ker, 2:11.45; 3. Sugandha, UP, 2:18.00 Under-20 High Jump: 1. Angel Devasya, Ker, 1.66 m; 2. K. Lavanya, TN, 1.63; 3. Jyoti, Har, 1.63.
Under-20 800m: 1. Chithra P. U., Ker, 2:13.24 min; 2. Pramila Yadav, UP, 2:14.07; 3. Komal Choudhury, Har, 2:14.73 Boys Under-18 800m: 1. Muhammed Rashid, Ker, 1:56.47 min; 2. Rajesh Sharma, Guj, 1:56.54; 3. Parvesh Panwar, Del, 1:57.65 Under-18 2000m steeplechase: 1. Shijo Rajan, Ker, 6:09.59 min; 2. Hari Baksh, UP, 6:14.73; 3. Harya M., AP, 6:21.29.
