Bengaluru: After recovering from a thigh injury, Pankaj Malik staged an impressive comeback into competitive racing to edge out Chandan Bauri in a close finish to clinch the junior men’s 400M gold at the 14th Federation Cup Junior National athletics championship here on Tuesday.
At the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, the Chandigarh athlete Malik clocked 47.10 seconds to qualify for the World Junior athletic championship while Bauri finished second with a timing of 47.12. Haryana’s Harsh Kumar (47.32) was third.
Elated with result, the triumphant 17-year-old Malik said, “I was out action for 35 days because of the thigh injury and happy to have qualified. The qualifying time was 47.70 seconds for the Worlds I’m happy to have clocked better than that.”
In another thrilling race of the evening, Kerala’s Maymon Poulose took a tumble in the final hurdle but yet went on win the junior men’s 100M hurdles gold.
The 19 year-old Poulose stopped the clock at 14.21 while Santhosh Kumar of Tamil Nadu narrowly finished second with a timing of 14.26. Debarjun Murmu (14.46) of West Bengal bagged bronze.
“My personal best is 13.93 (seconds) and I expected to break that record and also the meet record (13.57),” said the Thrissur-based Poulose athlete.
The only medal for Karnataka came in the women's 4x100M relay. The host state took the bronze medal with a time of 49.81 seconds while Tamil Nadu (48.56s) and Kerala (48.71s) took the gold and bronze respectively.
Results:
Men: 110M hurdles: 1. Maymon Poulose (KER) 14.21s, 2. Santhosh Kumar (TN) 14.26s, Debarjun Murmu 14.46s. 400M: 1. Pankaj Malik (CHA) 47.10s, 2. Chandan Bauri (WB) 47.12s, 3. Harsh Kumar (HAR) 47.32s. Discus Throw: 1. Ashwani Lampa (HAR) 52.53m, 2. Mithra Varun (TN) 52.09m, 3. Parvesh Kumar (DEL) 50.61m. 10000M walk: 1. Sunil (HAR) 44:11.60s, 2. Hardeep (HAR) 44:23.30s, 3. Naveen (HAR) 45:45:50s. Long jump: 1. Yugant Shekhar (UP) 7.56m, Sreeshankar M (KER) 7.41m, 3. Tapash Roy (WB) 7.14m. 4x100M relay: 1. Tamil Nadu 42.14s, 2. Kerala 42.74s, 3. Telangana 43.11s. High Jump: 1. Manu Francis (KER) 2.05m, Mothi Arun (TN) 2.05m, 3. Aromal T (KER) 2.05m Decathelon: 1. Krishna Kumar (TN) 6295 points, 2. Amit (HAR) 6136 points, 3. Sunil Kumar (CHA) 6051 points.
Women: 10000M walk: 1. Ravina (HAR) 51:15.27s, 2. Neena KT (KER) 53:39.03s, Vandna (JAR) 55:17.10.
Discus throw: 1. Preeti Rani (HAR) 44.67m, 2. Seema (HAR) 43.68m, Sonal Goyal (DEL) 42.20m. 100M hurdles: 1. Ankita Gosavi (Mah) 14.35s, Dibi Sebastian (Ker) 14.65s, Anurupa Kumari (JAR) 14.67s. Pole Vault: 1. Mariya Jaison (KER) 3.10m, 2. Gayathri (TN) 2.80M. 400M: 1. Shaharbana Sidi (KER) 56.30s, 2. Subha (TN) 57.07, 3. Linet George (KER) 57.24s. 4x100M relay: 1. Tamil Nadu 48.56s, 2. Kerala 48.71s, 3. Karnataka 49.81. Shot Put: 1. Sonal Goyal (DEL) 13.85m, 2. Anamika Das (UP) 12.74m, Keerthika (TN) 12.24m. Triple jump: 1. Priya Darshini (TN) 12.82m, 2. Rochelle Maria (TN) 12.68m, 3. Akila (TN) 12.49m.
