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The 58th National Inter state senior Athletics championships are currently in progress and they will double-up as the qualifiers for the Jakarta Asian Games as well.
The championships are taking place in Guwahati, Assam, and will take place from 26th-29th June. Indian athletes have put up tremendous performances and are showing positive signs of winning multiple medals at the 2018 Asian Games. Seven of the athletes had already qualified on Day 1 of the championships for the mega-event that is scheduled to commence on 18th August in Indonesia. We take a look at all the athletes who have made it to the much-coveted Games so far after the results of Day 2 were announced:
Jauna Murmu clocked 57.02 seconds and qualified for the Women’s 400m hurdles at the Asian Games, as she was easily under the 57.52-second qualification mark. Anu R (57.68 seconds), the silver-medalist came extremely close as well.
Three athletes qualified for men’s 400m hurdles -- namely -- Dharun Ayyasamy (49.58 secs), Santhosh Kumar T (50.10 secs) and Jashanjot Singh (50.64 secs).
However, the underdog who stole the show at the championships has to be Dutee Chand. Known names like Hima Das (24.02 secs) and Srabani Nanda (24.04 secs) were no match for the rising star Dutee as she clocked 23.45 secs during the 200m heat.
But it was Hima who stepped it up a notch on Day 2 during the finals, and clocked 23.10 seconds, a personal best for the 18-year-old rising sprint star as well equal to the inter state record. Dutee also improved her performance by 0.04 seconds in the finals to clock 23.41 secs. Both Hima and Dutee are now safely through to the Asian Games (qualification for this event being 23.50 seconds).
Sandeep Kumari -- with her rather impressive throw of 58.41m -- also qualified in Discuss Throw (min. requirement being 57m). Kamalpreet Kaur (55.47m), the silver medalist from Punjab did not even come close.
No female athlete could qualify for the Asian Games in High Jump. A jump of 1.78m by Angel P Devasia got her the national gold but it is nowhere close to the Asian Games qualification mark (1.87m)
Coming to the Women's 5000m event, 21-year-old Sanjeevini Jadhav of Maharashtra grabbed the top spot with her timing of 15:38.78, and was the only athlete to qualify for AG in this event (AG qualification mark being 15:45.00). The talented long-distance runner also beat the senior Athletics championships record (15:46.92 secs) in the process to qualify.
Discus thrower Seema Punia, who was exempted from taking part in the championships, has also made it through and assured herself of an Asian Games berth.
Hammer thrower Sarita R Singh with her throw of 63.28m also made it through as the qualification mark of AG was 60m.
Sadly enough, none of the Indian athletes could qualify for the Men's 5000m event (qualification mark 13:50.00 for AG). G Lakshmanan of Tamil Nadu with his timing of 13:58.63 came very close though.
Kundan of Haryana set the national record with 5.10m in Pole Vault and Siva Subramani (5.05m) equalled it. However, there is a long way to go for India to qualify for this event, the mark for Asian Games being 5.45m.
The 23-year-old Muhammad Anas had a bad start and clocked 20.9 seconds in Men's 200m. Even though it was enough for him to clinch the gold medal at the Inter state meet, he will miss the ticket for Asian Games as the qualification mark is 20.87 seconds for this event. He was India's only hope in this event, however, the Kerala-born ace sprinter still has a chance to make it in the 400m event.
In the Women's 800m event, Komal Chodhary of Haryana bagged the gold medal with a timing of 2:06.68. However, this was nowhere close to the qualifying mark of 2:03.00.
Finally, the highlight of Day 2 was when 27-year-old Jinson Johnson Kerala clocked 1:45.65 in Men's 800m event to not only pocket the gold and qualify comfortably for the Asian Games, but also break the 42-year-old national record of 1:45.77 set by Sriram Singh way back in 1976. A tremendous feat indeed.
Joining him to the Asian Games in this event are Manjit Singh (1:46.24), Mohammed Afsal (1:46.79), and Beant Singh (1:46.92) as the qualification mark was 1:47.50.
Asian Games organizers have allocated India 102 (52 men and 50 women) seats but it remains to be seen how many of them actually get filled.
The concerning part at the championships, however, is that the NADA officials have had a lapse attitude. In case Indian athletes come under the scanner in the future, fingers will be pointed at them.
However, strict measures were not taken by the officials and even the dope samples of the winners were not taken at the meet. If such is the case then NADA, being an independent organization should be a little more prompt as the reputation of the nation is in their hands.
