Railways on top, Renjith, Sahana win gold in National Open Athletics

CHENNAI: Railways reigned supreme, making a clean sweep of three events while its runners Manikandan and Manisha Dhankar became the fastest man and woman athletes of the 52nd National Open Athletic Championships on the second day on Tuesday.
Manikandan ran 10.60 secs in men's 100m dash, beating his Railways team-mate BG Nagaraj (10.70 secs) and Debnath Jyoti Shankar of Services (10.74 secs) to second and third places respectively.
In women's 100m sprint, Manisha Dhankar clocked 11.77sec to win the gold while her two Railways team-mates Saradha Narayana (12.03 secs) and MM Anchu (12.09 secs) were second and third respectively.
Railways top-three finish were accounted by their athletes in 100 meter dash for women and high jump for women.
London Olympian Sahana Kumari hogged the limelight improving upon her one-year-old meet mark by one cm when she cleared 1.84m.
Sahana, national record holder with 1.92m, failed in all her three attempts in the next height of 1.88m.
"I was down with fever after returning from London. It was my duty to win the event here for my department, which I justified," Sahana said after winning gold.
Other successful title defenders include MR Poovamma in women's 400m (53.79 secs) and race walker Khushbir Kaur, both representing ONGC.
Renjith Maheswary, also of Railways, who had a disappointing outing in London Olympics, took the triple jump gold with a leap of 16.72m. It was his fifth title in the Open Nationals in his pet event.
Results:
Men:
100m: 1. Manikandan (Railways) 10.60 secs; 2. B G Nagaraj (Railways) 10.70 secs; 3. Debnath Jyoti Shankar (Services) 10.74 secs.
400m: 1. Arokia Rajiv (Services) 46.57 secs; 2. S K Mortaja (Services) 47.03 secs; 3. Bibin Mathew (Railways) 47.14.
1500m: 1. Sajeesh Joseph (Railways) 3:46.69; 2. Chatholi Hamza (Services) 3:47.47; 3. Ravindra Rautela (Police) 8:47.74.
Triple Jump: 1. Renjith Maheshwary (Railways) 16.72m; 2. Amarjeet Singh (Railways) 16.03m; 3. Arpinder Singh (ONGC) 15.92m.
Discus Throw: 1. Kamalpreet Singh (ONGC) 55.34m; 2. Prabhjot Singh (Punjab) 53.50m; 3. Dharam Raj (Services) 52.18m.
Decathlon: 1. Daya Ram (Rajasthan) 6690 points; 2. V V Raneesh (Railways) 6630 pts; 3. Dhaneesh Stephan (Railways) 6327 pts.
Women:
100m: 1. Manisha Dhankar (Railways) 11.77 secs; 2. Saradha Narayana (Railways) 12.03 secs; 3. M M Anchu (Railways) 12.09.
400m: 1. M R Poovamma (ONGC) 53.79 secs; 2. Rattandeep Kaur (Police) 54.52 secs; 3. Anu Mariam Jose (LIC) 55.03 secs.
1500m: 1. S R Bindu (Railways) 4:25.58; 2. O P Jaisha (Railways) 4:26.90; 3. Jhuma Khatun (Railways) 4:29.58.
High Jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Railways) 1.84m (New Meet Record); 2. N K Siji (Railways) 1.73m; 3. Mallika Mondal (Railways) 1.70m.
Shot Put: 1. Pinki Dey (Railways) 12.82m; 2. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 12.75m; 3. J Saranya (Kerala) 12.73m.
20Km Walk: 1. Khushbir Kaur (ONGC) 1:44:55; 2. L Deepmala Devi (Railways) 1:49:26; 3. Shanti Devi (Punjab) 1:52:53.