[1]Hosts Kerala outmuscled defending champions Tamil Nadu to win the South Zone junior athletics overall title here on Wednesday.
After two days of running neck-and-neck with the neighbouring state, Kerala stepped up the momentum on the last day of the meet, winning a total of 52 gold, 46 silver and 37 bronze.
Tamil Nadu finished second with an overall haul of 41 gold, 42 silver and 36 bronze while Karnataka with 19 gold and Andhra Pradesh with seven gold finished third and fourth respectively.
Kerala emerged winners in five out of eight age categories, while the Tamil Nadu athletes finished first in the under-14 girls’ and under-20 boys’ categories. Andhra Pradesh topped the table in the under-14 boys’ section.
The highlight of the closing day was local boy Ebin Sunny’s outstanding performance in the under-18 boys’ pole vault in which he bettered the meet record by a whopping 35 cm.
The Kalladi boy who trains at Jumps Academy in Pala scaled 4.55 m, erasing a 3-year-old mark owned by J. Preeth of Tamil Nadu.
For Kerala, majority of the medals on the last day came in the middle distance races and the second of the four meet records on the day belonged to Oliviya Ann Maria of Mercy Kuttan Athletics Academy in the under-16 1,000 m.
The Kerala girl smashed her own meet record of 3 min: 5.93 sec by timing 2 min: 59.51 sec while her teammate Lekha Unni also bettered the previous mark with a time of 2 min: 59.75 sec.
Augustine Yesudas of Tamil Nadu broke a 11-year-old record in the under-18 200 m. He clocked 22.07 sec to obliterate R. Srikanth’s mark of 22.1s. M. Mahalakshmi of Tamil Nadu set a new mark in under-18 girls’ discus throw with an effort of 38.52 m. The previous best of 36.93 stood in the name of M. R. Gunasundari set in 2009.
Tamil Nadu bagged a prized double in the sprint events in under-16 and under-18 boys’ categories. M.S. Arun, who won the 100 m race on Tuesday, timed 22.6 seconds to triumph in the 200m in his under-16 event while Augustine Yesudas, winner of under-18 100m took the honours in the 200m as well with an impressive time 22.07 seconds. Later, TN’s B. Jothiranjan splendid anchor leg to help Tamil Nadu win the under-20 boys’ 4X400 m relay.
Selected results: Girls: Under-16 1,000 m: 1. Oliviya Ann Maria (Kerala) 2 min: 59.51; 2. Lekha Unni (Kerala) 2 min: 59.75; 3. R. Rohini (TN) 3 min: 5.85. Under-16 200 m: 1. Varsha R. (Karnataka) 26.63 sec; 2. A Chandralekha (TN) 26.92 sec; 3. K. G. Suvetha Lakshmi (TN) 27.29 sec. Under-18 200m: 1. Rengitha C. (Kerala) 25.56; 2. Berly Hudson (TN) 26.42 sec; 3. Subhathra (TN) 26.71 sec. Under-18 Discus Throw: 1. M. Mahalakshmi (TN) 38.52 m; 2. Priyanka J. S. (Karnataka) 35.78 m; 3. Navya Shetty M. S. (Karnataka) 34.56m. Under-20 200m: 1. Bebi Sumaya (Karnataka) 24.81 sec; 2. S. Archana (TN) 25.54 sec; 3. Manju K. (Kerala) 26.02 sec.
Boys: Under-16 200 m: 1. M.S. Arun (TN) 22.6 sec; 2. Giftson Mathew (Kerala) 23.53 sec; 3. Manu K. Joseph (Kerala) 23.85 sec. Under-18 200m: 1. Augustine Yesudas (TN) 22.07 sec; 2. S. Sudhakar (TN) 22.15 sec; 3. Likhin S. (Kerala) 22.77 sec. Under-20 200m: 1. Mohammed Afeef Owaise (Karnataka) 22.33 sec; 2. B. Suryanarayana (Andhra) 22.55 sec; 3. Mohammed Shershad P. (Kerala) 22.66 sec. Under-18 Pole Vault: 1. Ebin Sunny (Kerala) 4.55 m; 2. T. Rajavelan (TN) 4 m; 3. A. Ranjith (TN) 3.80m. Under-14 600m: 1. R. Naveen (TN) 1 min: 27.5 sec; 2. T. Hemanth Kannan (TN) 1 min: 27.78 sec; 3. U. Bharath (Puducherry) 1 min: 28.33 sec. Under-18 200m: 1. Augustine Yesudas (TN) 22.07 sec; 2. S. Sudhakar (TN) 22.15 sec; 3. Likhin S. (Kerala) 22.77 sec. Under-20 triple jump: 1. S. N. Mohammed Salahuddin (TN) 15.19 m; 2. Safeer T. (Kerala) 14.18 m; 3. P. N. Sai Kumar (Andhra) 13.37m.
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