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State junior athletics championship: Pune’s best not good enough for Nationals
Athletes who win, but fail to meet qualifying marks set at these championship not eligible for Nationals. Many such below-par runs on show
Local athletes helped Pune beat 32 other districts from Maharashtra in the 35th Maharashtra State Junior (U-20) Athletics Championship 2019, held at the Balewadi Sports Complex on the August 24 and 25.
The under-20 Pune boys finished first with 99 points, 46 points ahead of Satara in second place, while the under-20 Pune girls notched 87 points, 22 points ahead of second placed Nashik.
The athletes who have finished first and second in their respective events, but failed to level or beat the qualifying mark set at the championship will not qualify for the nationals. However, they will get a chance to beat the mark again, in a West zonal meet, which will include athletes from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Goa. The event is tentatively set to take place in Alwar, Rajasthan, and is expected to start in after a few weeks. The date for the commencement of the meet has not been officially announced yet.
Finishing first in the state, but failing to qualify for the nationals is the predominant storyline at this year’s Junior (U-20) Athletics Championship.
The captain of Pune’s under-20 boys’ team, Abhishek Ubhe took first place in the 110-metres hurdles. The 19-year-old completed his race with a time of 14.11 seconds. He is one of the few athletes who did qualify.
In the boys’ 100m dash, Saurabh Rajesh beat the qualifying time of 11.06 seconds, as the youngster from Thane wrapped up the race in 10.98 seconds.
With a time of 11.20, Pranav Gurav from Pune finished in second place and failed to qualify by a very narrow margin. The girls failed to beat their 100m qualifying time of 12.49 seconds with Kirti Bhoite, from Palghar, finishing first with a time of 12.71 seconds.
Siddhi Jadhav, who is captain of the Pune’s under-20 girls’ team, won the 400-metres dash, after she finished the race in 59.66 seconds, but failed to beat the qualifying time of 57.60 seconds.
Local athletes Shital Waikar and Riddhi Patil finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Kirti Bhoite took first place in the 200m sprint, but also failed to beat the qualifying time of 25.52 seconds. Bhoite finished with a time of 26.33 seconds. In this event, Siddhi Jadhav came in third place, behind Shreya Mulik from Satara. Local athlete Richa Sharma failed to impress in the 800m race, as she could only manage an eighth-place finish.
After Abhishek Ubhe impressed in the hurdles, Rishika Nepali, from Pune, bagged a first place finish in the girls’ 100m hurdles. Nepali finished with a time of 15.37 seconds which was 0.02 seconds slower than the qualifying time she was aiming to beat.
The local teenager finished a little over three seconds ahead of the second placed Nameira Shaikh, from Mumbai Suburbs.
In the girls’ high jump, local teenager Ira Devkule notched a first place finish and managed to beat the qualifying mark by just a single centimeter. Devkule cleared the bar which was set at 1.51m to ensure her qualification in the tournament.
Abhay Gurav, from Nandurbar, had to jump a height of 1.95m, but the youngster was capable of more as he finished the boys’ high jump final with a 2.05m jump.
Thane girl, Tanishka Subhash, leaped the farthest in the girls’ long jump final. Subhash’s 5.45m effort was just 0.09m short of the qualifying mark. Kimaya Ghatwal and Samruddhi Phatak, both from Pune, finished in 9th and 12th place, respectively. The boys failed to beat the qualifying mark too, as Shubham Patekar, from Mumbai, took first place in the boys’ long jump with a leap of 6.78m , which was 0.06m short of qualifying. Local athletes, Gaurav Gonde and Kevin Welson finished third and fourth, respectively.
Patekar also beat local boy Siddhesh Borhade to take first place in the triple jump final. Yet again, Patekar finished ahead of the lot, but failed to beat the qualifying mark. Saurabh Gogawale, from Pune, finished in fourth place. In the girls, Pune girl Aarti Gunjal leaped farther than all of her competitors to claim the top spot. Gunjal, however, failed to beat the qualifying mark of 12m, as her effort was 1.13m short.
In girls shot put, Anushka Deshpande, from Pune was pipped by Poorna Raorane, from Mumbai Suburbs for the top spot. Raorane’s 12.21m throw was enough to see her qualify and grab top spot in the final, while Deshpande had to settle for a second place finish. Her 11.44m was nowhere close to the qualifying mark of 12.13m. Abhijith Nair, from Palghar, was the winner in the boys’ category but failed to match or beat the qualifying mark.
Discuss throw
In the boys’ discus, Pune’s Prutviraj Nalawade finished third, but beat the qualifying marker after his throw landed at a distance of 45.35m. The qualification mark was 44.25m. Sangli’s Suraj Salunkhe and Satara’s Arjun Tambave finished first and second, respectively.
While three athletes managed to beat the qualifying mark in the boys’ category, none of the girls came close to the 39.44m qualifying mark. Nadani Pandhre’s effort landed the farthest, at a distance of 32.25m. Anushka Deshpande, who finished second in shot put, had to settle for another second place finish in the discus. Mrunal Chopade, was another participant from Pune, but she could only manage a fifth-place finish.
In the 10,000m walk, Pune’s Amar Kumbhar finished in pole position, but was really far from qualifying. The time to beat was 33:16.25, while Kumbhar took his time and finished with a time of 53:27.83.
Middle distance
In the 1500m run, Pune’s Rushikesh Devkar finished third, behind second placed Jobin Jaison, from Mumbai and winner Rohit Raju, from Thane. None of the athletes came close to beating the qualifying time. In the girls’ category, winner Pragati Mulane was three minutes slower that qualifying.
Mulane did beat the clock in the 3000m run, even though she finished third. Nashik’s Poonam Sonune completed her race and won the final with a time of 10:19.58. The qualifying time was 10:50.35. Rutuja Shende finished second with a time of 10:35.86.
In the 5000m run, Pune’s Laxman Darawada bagged top spot and qualified for the nationals. The time for qualification was 15:44.97. Darwada finished his race with the time of 15:38.93. Second placed, Sushant Jedhe also qualified after completing his run in 15:41.29.
