Manish, Asha steal limelight in athletics championships

KOLKATA: On a day when Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Renjith Maheshwari bit the dust, Haryana's Manish and local girl Asha Roy became the fastest athletes of the 51st National Open Athletics Championships on Sunday.
Punjab's Arpinder Singh, 19, bagged the gold medal with a jump of 16.63m, while triple jump national record holder, Maheshwari, slipped to fourth position after failing to get his rhythm right at the SAI Complex in Saltlake.
The Punjab youngster had his best jump on the final and sixth attempt, while Beijing Olympian Maheswari had a jump of 15.99 to cap a poor outing at the meet.
However, it was the sprint event at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, which became the highlight of the second day's proceedings as two youngsters defied all odds to clinch top honours.
Daughter of a vegetable vendor in Singur, the 21-year-old Asha became the cynosure of all eyes when she took the 100m gold in her second senior-level competition.
Asha, who had a silver-medal finish in the National Senior Inter-State in Bangalore, clocked 11.85 for the gold.
Asha took the lead in the last 10 metres, pushing National Inter-State gold medallist, Priya PK, to third spot.
Vinita Sahani of the Railways bagged the silver. In a 100m field boasting of national record holder Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, Rahamutalla Molla, 19-year-old Manish of Haryana emerged fastest with a timing of 10.60. Railways' BG Nagraj (10.67) and Karnataka's GN Bopanna (10.67) bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Results:
Men:
100m: 1 Manish (Har; 10.60); 2 BG Nagraj (Rlys; 10.67); 3 GN Bopanna (Kar; 10.67).
400m: 1 Khunu Mohammad (SSCB; 47.09); 2 Jithin Paul (Rlys; 47.48) 3 Jibin S (SSCB; 47.90).
1500m: 1 Sajesh Joseph (Rlys; 3:54.59); 2 Sandeep Karan (SSCB; 3:54.71); 3 Chatoli Hamza (SSCB; 3:54.75).
Triple jump: 1 Arpinder Singh (Pun; 16.63); 2 Saurav Singh (Pol; 16.22); 3 Bibu Matthew (SSCB; 16.06).
3000m steeplechase: 1 R Ramachandran (TN; 8:45.70); 2 Jaiveer Singh (SSCB; 8:46.80); 3 Sanjit Luang (SSCB; 8:48.70).
Women:
100m: 1 Asha Roy (Ben; 11.85); 2 Vinita Sahani (Rlys; 11.99); 3 Priya P K (Rlys; 12.04).
400m: 1 Poovamma MR (Kar; 53.87); 2 Alka Rani (Del; 55.53); Anu Mariyam Jose (ONGC; 55.70).
1500m: 1 OP Jaisha (Rlys; 4:15.88); 2 Jhuma Khatun (Rlys; 4:17.89); 3 Bindu SR (Rlys; 4:20.51).
20km walk: 1 Khushbir Kaur (Pun; 1::45:38.18); 2 L Deepmala Devi (Rlys; 1::47:33.34); Gourav Kumari (MP; 1::52:08.45).