Punjab's Manpreet Kaur sets a new national record

Pune, May 22 (UNI) Punjab shot putter Manpreet Kaur smashed the existing National record in the girls under 20 years with a massive throw of 15.44m on the opening day of the 8th National Federation Cup Junior athletics championship here today.

Manpreet in the process erased Seema Antil's 6 year old record of 14.89m.

Earlier, Karnataka's G M Aishwarya jumped to 5.87m to erase M A Prajusha's 4 year old meet record of 5.71m in the final of the girls under 18 years Long Jump event.

Pallavi Sukumar also from Karnataka and Asha Roy of West Bengal secured second and third place respectively In the boys high-jump section L Yogiraj of Tamilnadu set the new meet record of 2.14m ( old record of Omveer singh 2.10m set in 2001).

Sarabani Nanda of Orissa and Shilpa V of Kerala emerged the fastest girls, winning the 100-meter sprint event for girls under-18 and girls under-20 respectively to bag the gold. The sprightly sprinter from Orissa breezed past the finish, stopping the clock at 12.35 secs. R Kaushaliya of Tamil Nadu with a time of 12.70, took the silver and Sayali Dravid of Maharashtra bagged the bronze producing a time of 12:71 seconds.

Shilpa, who took 12.42 seconds to win the corresponding girls under-20 sprint event, did not have to struggle and it was a start-to-finish affair for her. Radhika of Tamil Nadu claimed the silver with a time of 12.57 seconds while Sabna Mohame of Kerala bagged the bronze with a time of 12.69 seconds.

Athletically-built Ashwarya achieved the distinction of creating a new meet mark by winning the girls under-18 long jump event with a leap of 5.87 meters. She erased the previous mark of 5.71 meters established by Prajusha M A of Kerala in 2004. Her effort however fell short to better the national record of 6.10 meters that stands in the name of Ruta Patkar of Maharashtra.

Pallavi Sukumar, also of Karnataka, earned the silver medal by clearing 5.86 meters while Asha Dey of West Bengal had to rest content with the bronze with a leap of 5.76 meters.

Jitin Thomas, basically from the Army Sports Institute (ASI) but donning the Maharashtra colours, cleared the height of 2.07 meters to capture the gold and opened the account for the hosts.

Thomas, training under Cuban coach Herald Wilson, went for a new meet mark but failed to clear 2.09 in both attempts. The meet record of 2.08 meters remained intact in the name of Rajesh Kauramana of Haryana. The national record of 2.18 meters stands in the name of Shankar Roy. Dharmendra Kumar of Bihar with an effort of 2.01 meters took the silver while P Shivanandam of Tamil Nadu bagged the bronze clearing a height of 1.95 meters.

The 8th Federation Cup junior athletics championship and the under-18 Youth Nationals will serve as a basis for selecting the Indian squad for the under-20 contingent to take part in the Asian Athletic championship to be held at Jakarta from June 7 and also the under-18 contingent for the Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Pune. As many as 850 athletes from 28 affiliated units of the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) are vying for honours in this dual meet.

Results: Boys: 20 and under 100m: Anoop P K (Ker) 11.09s, Amandeep Singh (Pun) 11.16s, G N Bopanna (Kar) 11.18s 800m: Ibrar Ahmed (UP), Karamjit Singh (Pun), Vipin (Dli) Triple Jump: Sreejith Mon K (Ker) 15.05m, R Manikandan (TN) 14.55m, Navjot Singh(Pun) 14.52m High Jump: L Yograj (TN) 2.14m NMR, C Nikhil Chittarasu(TN) 2.08m, Aniket Borge(Mah) 1.80m Discus Throw: Naveen Kumar (Har) 50.83m, Kripal Singh Bath (Pun) 48.02m, Virender(DlI) 43.20m Boys:18 and Under 100m: Anirudha Gujar (Mah)11.02s, K Pawan Kumar(AP) 11.06s, Ch Eshwar Reddy(AP) 11.26s High Jump: Jitin Thomas(Mah) 2.07m, Dharmendra Kumar (Bih) 2.01m, P Shivanandam (TN) 1.95m Discus Throw: Akash Antil (Har) 46.80m, Prabhjot Singh (Pun)45.89m, Bhelender Singh (Dli)45.88m Girls: 20 and under 100m: Shilpa C (Ker) 12.42s, S Radhika(TN) 12.57s, Shamna Mohd (Ker) 12.69s Shot Put: Manpreet Kaur JR (Pun) 15.44m NR, Steffi Cardozo (Goa)13.19m, Rinku Sangwan(Har)12.00m Discus Throw: Rinku Sangwan (Har) 39.71m, Manisha (Har) 39.08m, Ankita Julka(Dli) 39.02m Girls 18 and under: 100m: Srabani Nanda (Ori) 12.35s EMR, R Kowsalya (TN) 12.70s, Sayali Dravid (Mah) 12.71s Long Jump: Aishwarya G M (Kar) 5.87m NMR, Pallavi Sukumar (Kar) 5.86m, Asha Roy (WB)7.6m.

UNI XC HSB RKM RN2003