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The Indian Grand Prix athletics event saw exciting action on Sunday. Priya H Mohan established herself atop the field in the women’s 400m race and DP Manu excelled at the javelin throwing arena in the one-day event that took place in Thiruvananthapuram.
Karnataka’s promising sprinter Priya yet again clocked an impressive time of 52.91 seconds to win gold. India’s seasoned quarter-miler MR Poovamma pushed hard on the home-straight to clinch silver in 53.39 seconds. National U23 champion Dandi Jyothika Sri won bronze in 54.55 seconds.
Running in lane four, Priya shifted gears in the second half of the race to outsprint her rivals. Priya was in command on the home-straight as early leader Dandi faded away while Poovamma struggled to keep pace with the eventual winner. With 80m to go, Priya was the clear winner. She crossed the finish line in 52.91 seconds.
The men’s 400m race was dominated by Delhi’s Amoj Jacob whose winning time was 45.98 seconds.
Field events at Indian Grand Prix
Away from the track, in the field events of the Indian Grand Prix, Karnataka’s 20-year-old Manu hogged the limelight to win the javelin gold with a throw of 82.43m, which was better than the Asian Games qualifying mark of 81m.
Manu’s previous best in 2021 was 78m. Rohit Yadav, the national camper, was second with a throw of 80.03m. It was Yadav’s season's best.
The men’s jumping pit was dominated by Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin as he sailed to a distance of 8.20m to win gold. Of the six jumps, Aldrin’s third was also 8.09m and fourth was 8.11.
The national record of 8.26m stands in the name of M Sreeshankar, who skipped the IGP as he competes at the Belgrade World Indoor Championships, starting March 18.
Kerala’s talented jumper Ancy Sojan also improved her performance in the long jump pit. She won gold with a best jump of 6.55m. Earlier this month, she had recorded a jump of 6.51m at a domestic meet in Kerala.
In the men’s 200m event at the Indian Grand Prix, Assam’s talented Alman Borgohain clocked 20.94 seconds to win gold. It was his second sub-21 seconds finish in 200m. Borgohain has a personal best of 20.75 seconds clocked last year.
India’s star sprinter Hima Das, however, suffered a defeat in the women’s 200m race as she finished second behind Dhana Lakshmi.
Karanveer Singh and Abha Khatua were the winners of men and women’s shot put event, respectively.
