Nayana pips Ancy and Shaili, bags gold

 

The fourth Indian Grand Prix on Tuesday was expected to witness close competition in at least a couple of events but the event was more about missing names than the ones competing. Among those who did, the performances were far from their best.

Nayana James pipped Statemate Ancy Sojan and junior World Championship silver medallist Shaili Singh in the women’s long jump, one of only three events that saw a full house participation. Nayana, who had leapt past 6.50m twice in March, won with 6.37m while Ancy was second two centimetres behind. Shaili came third.

In men’s long jump, the absence of M. Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin opened up the field with Muhammed Anees Yahiya jumping to a personal best of 8.15m, his second 8m plus jump this season. Anees, in fact, had jumped the same distance in Thiruvananthapuram in March but it was not considered legal due to lack of wind information.

Yashvir Singh took the honours in javelin ahead of favourites Sahil Silwal, Manu D.P. and Rohit Yadav with a massive 82.13m throw, almost three metres better than his previous best of 79.31m and almost five metres more than his only other throw this year so far. Yadav was second with 80.88m.

In women’s 400m, the much-anticipated showdown between Jisna Mathew and Vithya Ramraj did not materialise as the former did not even start. Vithya took the gold in 53.95s. Elsewhere, Anu Raghavan ran a lone race in the 400m hurdles with the only other entrant, Arathi R, not starting.

The results:

Women: 100m: 1. Srabani Nanda (Odi, 11.87s), 2. Rajashree Prasad (12.18s), 3. Angel Silvia (TN, 12.39s); 400m: 1. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN, 53.95s), 2. Vijayakumari GK (Kar, 54.67s), 3. Sonia Baishya (WB, 54.78s); 1500m: 1. Lili Das (WB, 4:22.39), 2. Namita Pradhan (Odi, 4:59.09); 400m hurdles: Anu R (Ker, 59.70s); 3000m steeplechase: 1. Parul Chaudhary (UP, 9:42.24), 2. Komal Jagadale (Mah, 10:00.20), 3. Kajal Sharma (UP, 10:23.10).

Long jump: 1. Nayana James (Ker, 6.37m), 2. Ancy Sojan (Ker, 6.35m), 3. Shaili Singh (UP., 6.27m); Discus: 1. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Pun, 54.79m), 2. Seema Punia (UP, 53.57m), 3. Nidhi Rani (Har, 49.85m); Javelin: 1. Sanjana Choudhary (Raj, 56.59m), 2. Sharmila Kumari (Har, 55.48m), 3. Shilpa Rani (Har, 51.98m); Pole vault: 1. Baranica Elangovan (TN, 4.05m), 2. Rosy Meena Paulraj (TN, 4.00m), 3. Preethika Anandhan (TN, 3.40m).

Men: 100m: 1. Amiya Mallick (Odi, 10.74s), 2. Aryan Ekka (Odi, 10.86s), 3. Karan Hegiste (Mah, 10.95s); 400m: 1. Saran K (TN, 47.42s), 2. Ayush Dabas (Har, 47.49s), 3. Rashid (Del, 48.28s); 1500m: 1. Ajay Kumar Saroj (UP, 3:43.36), 2. Rahul (Del, 3:43.95), 3. Shashi Bhushan Singh (WB, 3:46.73); 400m hurdles: 1. Jabir MP (Ker, 50.19s), 2. Thomas Mathew (Ker, 51.84s), 3. Rohan Kamble (Mah, 52.73s); 3000m steeplechase: 1. Balkishan (Har, 8:39.34), 2. Naveen Dagar (Har, 9:16.00), 3. Raghav (UP, 9:24.64).

Long jump: 1. Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Ker, 8.15m), 2. Yugant Shekhar Singh (UP, 7.73m), 3. Lalu Prasad Bhoi (Odi, 7.58m); Discus: 1. Kirpal Singh (Pun, 59.92m), 2. Banvir Singh (UP, 50.36m), 3. Ikram Khan (MP, 48.45m); Javelin: 1. Yashvir Singh (Raj, 82.13m), 2. Rohit Yadav (UP, 80.88m), 3. Manu DP (Kar, 77.66m).