National record holder Preeja Sreedharan was beaten to second place by Railway teammate Suriya Loganathan in women's 10,000m race on the opening day of the 52nd National Open Athletics Championships here on Monday.
Preeja, who won gold in the 2010 Asian Games but had failed to qualify for the London Olympics, clocked 35:19.4 to finish second behind Suriya who recorded her personal best of 35 minutes 18.2 secs in the first event of the day.
Monika Athare from Life Insurance Corporation of India finished third in 35:25.5. Kavita Raut, the training partner of Preeja, could not finish the race.
Preeja did the front running in the initial stages of the race before letting Monika take charge for a few laps. Preeja did regain the lead when the race entered the final phase. However, a gritty Suriya powered herself in the last 200m to win the race.
The 22-year-old Suriya, hailing from Pudukottai and working in Southern Railways, had already won the Inter-Railway title at Bhopal two weeks ago.
The men's 10,000m race was won by Inderjeet of Oil and Natural Gas Commission in a time of 29:42.76 in yet another closely contested race. Services runner Kheta Ram was second in 29:44.00 while defending champion Suresh Kumar, also of ONGC, finished third in 29:44.73.
The Day One, however, saw missing of three London Olympians in Krishna Poonia and Seema Antil (discus throw) and Mayookha Johnny (long jump) from action after initial confirmation to take part.
In the absence of defending champion Mayookha and Harwant Kaur, the women's long jump and discus throw events turned out to be an open affair.
Former Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) won the women's long jump with a personal best 6.36m while LIC's Delphin Rani was second in 6.32m.
In women's discus throw, Railway's Pramila went one place up from her last year's effort as she snatched the gold by hurling the disc to 49.08m. Uttar Pradesh's Annu Rani emerged champion in women's javelin throw with an effort of 49.58m and in the process beat defending champion S. Saraswathy of Railways to second place.
The opening ceremony of the championships was interrupted when W I Dawaram, Vice President of Athletic Federation of India, was delivering his welcome address as heavy downpour lashed the Jawaharlal Nehtu Stadium. The start of events was also delayed due to the downpour.
Results:
Men: 10,000m: 1. Inderjeet (ONGC) 29:42.76; 2. Kheta Ram (Services) 29:44.00; 3. Suresh Kumar (ONGC) 29:44.73.
Women: 10,000m: 1. L Suriya (Railways) 35:18.2; 2. Preeja Sreedharan (Railways) 35:19.4; 3. Monika Athare (LIC) 35:25.5.
Long Jump: 1. Shraddha Ghule (Maharashtra) 6.36m; 2. S Delphin Rani (LIC) 6.32m; 3. Susan K. Joy (Railways) 5.99m.
Discus Throw: 1. Pramila (Railways) 49.08m; 2. Praveen Kumari (Rajasthan) 47.05m; 3. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (ONGC) 46.45m.
Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 49.58; 2. S. Saraswathy (Railways) 48.66; 3. Aarti Maurya (Uttar Pradesh) 46.48.