Sprinter Tintu Luka shines on final day of National Games, Services emerge on top of medals table
Thiruvananthapuram: It was a proud moment for Meghalaya when A Mishanta Singh bagged a Gold for the State in the Men Sanshow 56 kg and below category of Wushu on the concluding day of the 35th Kerala National Games on Friday.
Singh defeated Sanjay of Haryana 2-0 in the Gold medal bout, having earlier maintained a clean slate enroute to the final. Singh’s gold helped the Meghalaya contingent return figures of 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in this edition of the National Games.
The State contingent could not better their performance from the 34th edition of the Games held in Jharkhand in 2011 where it had returned with a haul of 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Asian Games medallist Tintu Luka ruled the track on the final day of competitions as she smashed an 18-year-old meet record to win 800m gold before inspiring Kerala to 4x400m top spot in the 35th National Games today, with Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) notching up a hat-trick of overall titles by finishing atop medals table.
SSCB led the tally on account of a higher number of gold medals and emerged as the overall champions for the third time in a row.
The team ended with 158 medals (91 gold, 32 silver and 35 bronze), followed by hosts Kerala, who rode on a strong athletics performance to total 161 (54 gold, 46 silver and 61 bronze) and Haryana (39 gold, 40 silver and 27 bronze).
On the final day of competitions, vociferous home supporters filled the athletics ground and Tintu’s star turn made their day.
Protege of the legendary P T Usha and an outright favourite before the 800m race, Tintu lived upto the top billing as she freezed the clock at 2:01.86sec to win the gold and better the 2:03:08sec mark created by K C Rosa Kutty way back in 1997. Tamil Nadu’s Gomathi Marimuthu was a distant second with a timing of 2:05.09sec, while Sini Markose ensured the hosts’ presence on the podium with a bronze medal, clocking 2:06.37sec.
Asian Games bronze-medallist Lalita Babar also lived upto the favourite tag as she breached the meet record to clinch the 3000m women’s steeplechase gold with a timing of 9:42.63sec – a massive improvement on the previous mark of 10:40.81sec set in the last edition of the Games by Priyanka Singh Patel. Babar, representing Maharashtra, is also the national record holder in this event, which currently stands at 9:35.37sec.
Uttar Pradseh’s Sudha Singh, who was a gold-medallist in the 2007 edition of the Games, ended her race in 10:04.30sec to win the silver this time, while Maharashtra’s Jayashri Boragi (10:28.44sec) picked up the bronze.
The men’s 800m gold was bagged by Kerala’s Sajeesh Joseph for a third successive time after he crossed the finish line in 01:53:68sec, ahead of SSCB’s Jinson Johnson (1:53:88sec) and state-mate Muhammed Afsal (1:54:08sec)
The women’s 200m sprint turned out to be quite a stunner as pre-pace favourite Dutee Chand was outshone by local girls Santhini V and Anilda Thomas. Dutee, who won the 100m gold with a new Games record, had to settle for a bronze after clocking 24:56sec. Santhini won the gold with a timing of 24.11sec, while Thomas ended third after clocking 24.11sec.
Later in the women’s 4x400m relay, Tintu outshone Dutee, the 100m champion, as she inspired Kerala’s team to a gold by handing the hosts a decisive edge in the second lap much to the joy of a packed University Stadium ground. Kerala’s team combined to clock a new meet record of 3:35.34sec, beating Andhra Pradesh’s mark of 3:36.25sec. Karnataka (3:42.66sec) snatched the silver leaving Haryana (3:43.83sec) at the second position.
Among the men, Haryana’s Dharambir completed a golden double and after the 100m gold with a meet record, he notched up the 200m top honours, again with a new Games mark, after clocking 21.12sec to finish ahead of Tamil Nadu’s Manikanda Arumugam Manickam (21.53sec) and Odisha’s Amiya Mallick (21.57sec). Dharambir bettered Ajay Raj Singh’s previous mark of 21.20sec, which was set in 2001.
Kerala topped the medal count in athletics with 13 gold, as many silver and eight bronze medals. (PTI)