No Olympic qualification marks were reached but a national record in the men's 110m hurdles provided some consolation and it came in the final session of the fifth and final day of the 51st Open National Athletics Championships, at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Siddhanth Thingalaya, the 20-year-old representing ONGC, left the field way behind clocking 13.77secs. In second place, T Balamurgan had a timing of 14.48. In the process, Siddhanth bettered his own mark of 13.81 set in the inter-state meet in Patiala last year. The Olympic B qualification mark is 13.6.
"I am a bit disappointed that I missed it here, but I am confident I will make it once the events begin again in January," said Siddhanth, who trains under Australian coach Sharon Hannan.
Two more meet marks
Two more meet records fell on Tuesday. The first one was in the women's 800m where Bindu SR of Railways surpassed Tintu Luka's meet record of 2:10.61, set in Kerala last year. Bindu clocked 2:08.4 beating Jessey Joseph who clocked 2:12.88.
The second came in the women's high jump where 30-year-old Sahana Kumari of the Railways crossed 1.83m to better her own mark of 1.82 set in 2007. Ghamanda Ram of ONGC, who is gunning for an Olympic berth finished second in the men's 800m clocking 1:50.31. Sajesh Joseph of Railways clocking 1:50.28 took gold. The timings were not close to even the B qualification mark (1:46.3).
{{/usCountry}}The second came in the women's high jump where 30-year-old Sahana Kumari of the Railways crossed 1.83m to better her own mark of 1.82 set in 2007. Ghamanda Ram of ONGC, who is gunning for an Olympic berth finished second in the men's 800m clocking 1:50.31. Sajesh Joseph of Railways clocking 1:50.28 took gold. The timings were not close to even the B qualification mark (1:46.3).
{{/usCountry}}Asha Roy became the first woman from Bengal to bag a golden double in sprint. After winning the 100m on the second day she bagged gold in the 200m on Tuesday and then anchored Bengal to silver in the 4x100m relay.