Long jumper
Joseph TJ
of Ernakulam one of the rising stars of state athletics gave glimpses of his talent but was unlucky to miss the record narrowly on the second day of the 64th State Athletics Championships at
Calicut University Stadium
, Tenjhipalam on Tuesday.
The lone record in under-20 4x100m relay set by Thrissur girls category broke the monotony but the day clearly belonged to Joseph who hails from Kannur.
The 19-year-old first year BA history student of Maharaj's College is already the national and State schools record holder in long jump. However, Joseph missed the record here by 1cm.
Joseph, who was gunning to break the eight-metre barrier, couldn't come anywhere near it but his effort of 7.58 was just 1cm short of the record.
The
Covid-19
pandemic had upset his training schedule and he didn't enjoy a particularly good outing at the national junior meet in Guwahati held two weeks back.
He was trying to make up for that disappointment. He started with a modest 7.05m and in his second and third attempts improved it to 7.33 and 7.42m to qualify for the final round.
He opened with a leap of 7.26m and with his second jump ensured the gold with a distance of 7.57m. However, he could only manage 7.56m in his last jump to fall short of Clinton KJ's record of 7.58m set in 2004.
Joseph was happy with his performance. "I hope All-India varsity meet will be held this year. I'm eyeing that meet. My target is to break 8-m barrier. I'm happy but a record here would have made my day," said Joseph. "Definitely he is 8-m material. We're not in a hurry either. He will cross it sooner than later and age is on his side. But I wish Joseph would concentrate a bit more on his workouts," his coach
Anoop Joseph
of Centralised Sports Hostel in Panampilly Nagar told TOI.
Thrissur girls produced the record-breaking effort in the under-20 4x100m relay with a timing of 47.17 seconds.
There were a couple of good shows in boys U-16 discus throw and girls U-14 shot put but those will not be ratified as records since both were held for the first time after new change of weights were introduced. The meet also saw mixed relay making their debut in a state meet.
Results (record only) GIRLS Under-20 4x100m relay: Thrissur (Ancy Sojan E, Anjali PD, Jamsheela TJ, Ann Rose Tomy, 47.17s NMR, OR 48.50s by Pathanamthitta in 2000), Ernakulam (50.93s), Kozhikode (51.23s)
Overall seniors: Ernakulam (88), Kottayam (79), Thrissur (34); juniors: Ernakulam (206), Palakkad (176), Kozhikode (175.5)
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