Four new meet records; Ghamanda, Joseph, Amarjit, Shanthi excel

New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) Runner Ghamanda Ram and jumper Amarjit Singh of Punjab cornered the spotlight as four new meet records were set up on the second day of the 12th Federation Cup National Athletics Championship here today.

Tamil Nadu's S Shanthi and CRPF's Joseph Abraham were the other two who brought excitment to the day's proceedings by creating meet records in women's 3000sc and men's 400mh.

Army man Ghamnda Ram put behind the defeat he had suffred in Patiala last week,and gave an excellent display of disciplined running to win the 800m race with a new meet timing.

Ghamanda Ram,who was not feeling well,still turn up at the call room for the final of 800m.He took the early lead and then followed the pace maker till 500m but its wasn't enough for armyman he needed more competition to surpass his own performance.

He finished the race ahead Jaskaran Singh of Haryana ( 1: 52.40s ) and Satnam Singh of Punjab (1:52.75s) with a timing of 1:47.74s, another sub 1:48 timing.

Ghamanda was well preparaed for this day with a aim to break into sub 1:46 club but will have to wait till Melbourne CWG where he will be facing strong Kenyans . He is on currently 4 th ranking in the 800m on IAAF top list 2006.

Joseph Abraham ran marvelous one lap hurdle race but missed the national mark by just 0.07s winning the event in 50.50s (New Meet Record). thus produced the biggest underdog performance of the day.

But this performance came after strong fight from Gurpreet Singh who ran neck to neck with Joseph till last hurdle but faded in the last 10 meter to finish second with 50.81s. A. Jayashankar of Taminadu took third place with 52.82s.

In the last event of the day, Men's triple jump produced the second best ever distance by Indian in the event and it came from Amarjit Singh of Punjab who jumped to 16.58m to create new meet record while Sushanth Bangera was distinct second with 15.65m.

Mohinder Singh Gill's National record of 16.79m is now under threat from Amarjit Singh and Ranjith Maheswary who both had performed beyond 16.40m in the triple jump event and 34 years old record of Gill is eagerly waiting to fall this season.

Asian silver medalist S. Shanthi of Taminadu could not improve her own national record in 3000m steeplechase but settled on the new meet record with 10: 44.76. Shanti ran most of the race alone with absolute no competition from any other runner.

In women's 800m , Pinki Pramanik registered third straight win of the season with another excellent timing of 2: 05.05. She too finished the race well ahead other runners. Sutapa Das of West Bengol fall flat after finishing on second place with 2:11.21s while B. Venkatlaxmi of Andhra Pradesh took third place with 2:11.74s.

Another Joseph, Shalin Joseph won the 400m hurdles for the women with 59.69s leaving Harini Chandrashekhara (59.86s) of Karnataka to second place . Upcoming Pooja Jakhar of Delhi won the third place with 1: 01.29s.

Results: Men: 200m: P Muthuswamy (TN) 21.81; Parameshwara (Kar)22.02; S Barna Bass (TN) 22.02 800m: Ghamanda Ram (Army) 1:47.74 (NMR); Jaskiran Singh (Har) 1:52.40; Satnam Singh (Pun) 1:52.75 400m hurdle: Joseph Abraham (CRPF) 50.50 (NMR); Gurpreet Singh (PP) 50.81 (NMR); A Jayasankar (TN) 52.82 3000m steeplechase: Ram Bahadur Subba (BSF) 9:03.84; Om Prakash (Army) 9:10.99; Mahesh Kumar (MP) 9:11.18 Triple Jump: Amarjeet Singh 16.58m (NMR); Sushanth Bangera (Mah) 15.65m Pole Vault: Gajanan Upadhaya (UP) 4.90; Shyju (Army) 4.60; Pawan Kumar (Dli) 4.60 Discus Throw: Harpreet Singh (Dli) 52.78m; Vipendra Singh (UP) 51.20m; Jaiveer Singh (Raj) 50.62m Women: 200 m: H M Joythi (Kar) 24.27; Babita Singh (Mah) 24.56; Rakhi Saha (Ben) 24.60 400 metre hurdle: Shalin Joseph (Ker) 59.69; H Chandrashekara (Kar) 59.86; Pooja Jakhar (Dli) 1:01.29 800 m: Pinki Pramanik (Ben) 2:05.05; Sutapa Das (Ben) 2:11.21; B Venkat Laxmi (AP) 2:11.74 3000m Steeplechase: S Shanthi (TN) 10:44.76(NMR); K Maheswari (TN) 11:48.87; Asha Rani (PP) 11:49.17 Hammer Throw: Archana Bara (Bih) 54.43; Ritu Rani (UP) 52.53; Ushma Daryan (UP) 51.60 UNI HSB AY PDS PM2020