Sixth title in a row

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“Kerala did it again!” was the reaction from the Kerala State Athletic Association (KSAA) soon after the Senior inter-state Championship in Hyderabad on June 26 was clinched. This is the defending champions’ sixth consecutive victory and it was a memorable won.

Kerala won in both the men’s and women’s categories with a decent performance — 122 points in women section and 70 points in men section. More than grabbing the inter-state title, the state also received another accolade at the meet.

Hurdler R. Anu was selected to represent India in the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championship to be held in Barcelona from July 10 to 15 as she achieved the qualification mark in the athletic meet. She clocked 1 min 00.34 seconds to grab her entry into the championship.

A native of Alappuzha, she is training under the Kerala State Sports Council Coach Jayakumar at Vimala College in Thrissur.

Another impressive performance was by P.T. Usha’s protégé Tintu Luka. who clinched the best women’s athlete in the championship with gold in the 800 m clocking 2:01.36. She however did not come close to her national record of 1:59.17.

In the absence of national record holder Mayookha Johny, her closest rival M.A. Prajusha clinched the gold in the triple jump with an impressive 13.66 m.

While the national 4x400 m women’s relay contingent, consisting of Malayalee athlete Sini Jose, has been ripped apart over the doping scandal, Kerala continued its hegemony in the event.

The team comprising of Jomy Jose, Anu Mariam Jose, Anju Thomas and Arya C. took gold with a timing of 3:45.06 min. West Bengal settled for silver with 3:50.87 min in the event.

The State men emulated the women’s quarter-mile relay team by clinching gold in their event, clocking 3:14.84 min. Jithu Baby, George John, Arun Kumar and Avin A. Thomas were the runners.

One of the most successful events as far as the State was concerned happened to be the women’s 400 m hurdles. Anu R., Raji C.T. and Darsana M.S. took the first three positions respectively.