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Maheswary wins ticket to London
The triple jumper makes the cut on Day I of the Federation Cup in Patiala. HT reports.
Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary became the 10th Indian athlete to win a ticket to the London Olympic Games.
On Saturday, the opening day of the four-day Federation Cup in Patiala, the 27-year-old jumper from Tamil Nadu cleared a distance of 16.85m, which was the ‘B’ standard Olympic qualification mark. The ‘A’ standard mark is 17.20m. In fact, Maheswary’s gold-medal winning performance was the talking point of an otherwise dull day.
After a not-so-encouraging start, he put in more power in his fifth attempt to achieve qualification mark. Elated at the prospect of joining the Indian contingent for the Games, the national record holder said: "I am glad to qualify, but need to further polish my skills."
Two seasons ago, on his way to winning bronze in the Commonwealth Games, Maheswary had set a national record of 17.07m. Thereafter, he flopped in all the meets, including the 2011 World Championships at Daegu, South Korea. He had also taken part in the Beijing Olympics, but wasn’t impressive.
Suman Devi set a meet record in women’s javelin throw.
Results: Women
100m: Manisha (Haryana) 11.93 seconds; 1500m: Sinimole Paulose (ONGC) 4:19.33; 5,000m: Archana Pal (UP); Pole vault: Remya Ravindran (Gujarat) 3.40m; High jump: Sahana Kumari (Karnataka) 1.88m; Javelin throw: Suman Devi 56.11m
Men:
100m: Krishna Kumar Rane (Mah) 10.51 seconds; 5,000m: Sandeep Kumar (MP) 14:17.22; Discus throw: Kirpal Singh (ONGC) 58.59m; Triple jump: Renjith Maheswary (TN) 16.85m.
