Karamjit vaults to a new National high

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, JUNE 25. Not many Indian women soar over 2.50 metres. But Karamjit Kaur, a wisp of a girl, has made it a habit to clear over 3 metres, everytime she vaults, for the last two years.

The Asst. Sub Inspector with the Punjab Police cleared 3.15 metres in the women's pole vault to set the lone National record at the KPTCL-7th Federation Cup Athletics championship that concluded at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Monday.

Mukti Saha-led West Bengal powered its way to the women's team title with 98 points while the men's honours were claimed by the Army outfit with 112 points. Sandeep Sarkaria of Delhi and K.M. Beenamol of Southern Railway were adjudged best men and women athlete respectively.

Having cleared 2.82 metres in the last edition of the Federation Cup at Lucknow, the Punjab girl coached by Paramjeet Kaur, had set the National mark at 3.10 metres in the Calcutta Open Nationals. Today, undeterred by the lack of competition, Karamjit went about her business in right earnest to clear 3.15 metres to win all-round applause.

Starting off at 2.80m and 2.85m, Karamjit fumbled with her first attempt at 3.00 metres before going over the horizontal bar in the second. With the rest of the field having conceded the top spot - Preethi of Karnataka finishing second best at 2.50 metres - Karamjit went for the record by raising the bar to 3.11 metres. She missed on the first attempt but made good with the second. It was the same story at 3.15m but the attempt at 3.20m was a miserable failure.

Southern Railway athletes G.G. Pramila and Arun D'Souza sure must have made coach Purshottam Rai a proud man. Pramila's exploits in the long jump pit is well known but it's her allround ability as a heptathlete which has earned her more laurels.

In this edition of the championship too, with a moderate 6.32m to show on the first day, the talented local girl came up with a splendid showing in heptathlon to overhaul her meet record of 5541 points by accumulating 5825 points.

Pramila had a clear advantage right from the first event and despite an unimpressive 11.64 in the shot put managed to nose ahead on the first day. On the second day, with a consistently good showing in the long jump, javelin and 800m, she finished a good 200 points ahead of National champion and record holder Soma Biswas. The West Bengal girl was nowhere near her best, which she attained at the Chennai Open National with a whopping aggregate of 6186 points.

Arun D'Souza like most of the other long distance runners did complain off the stiff breeze and the far straight. But having changed gears in the 3000 metres steeplechase in the second lap itself, there was no complaint about the gold medal finish that he achieved with a 9:11.14 seconds finish. And cheering him was his mother, who came all the way from Mangalore, to see her son perform at the National level.

If the Army team, thanks to its middle and long distance runners along with a couple of throwers cornered glory, West Bengal women, led by the Mukti Saha, the sensation of the meet, and good number of distance runners and couple of jumpers, stole the women's title from much more fancied Southern Railway and Punjab teams.

The results:

Men: 800m: 1. P.S. Primesh (Ker) 1:52.86s, 2. Jij Karan (M.P.) 1:53.19s, 3. K.J. Manoj Lal (S. Rly) 1:53.63s; 5000m: 1. Jaganath Lakhada (Army) 14:55.86s, 2. Deep Chand (Army) 14:58.81s, 3. Harish Tiwari (Uttaranchal) 14:59.99s; 110m hurdles: 1. Ashok Kumar (Del) 14.65s, 2. J.D. Rajesh Kumar (AIESCB) 14.74s, 3. Kuldeep Singh (Army) 14.98s; 3000m steeplechase: 1. Arun D'Souza (S. Rly) 9:11.14s, 2. Ranjan Kumar Jha (Army) 9:16.34s, 3. R. Suresh (Army) 9:17.89s; Triple jump: 1. Pritpal Singh (Pun) 16.05m (wind assisted), 2. Robin M. Verghese (AIESCB) 15.72m, 3. Deigo Braganza (Kar) 15.64m; Hammer throw: 1. Pramod Tiwari (U.P.) 66.80m, 2. Ishtiaque Ahmed (U.P.) 64.63m, 3. Kuldeep Singh (Pun) 61.50m; Decathlon: 1. K. Ananthapadmanabhan (Kar) 5917 pts, 2. Rajesh Kumar (CRPF) 5845, 3. Satish Kumar (Jharkand) 5557; 4 x 100m relay: 1. Karnataka 41.81s, 2. Southern Railway 41.86s, 3. Tamil Nadu 42.07s; 4 x 400m relay: 1. Southern Railway 3:18.48s, 2. Madhya Pradesh 3:20.09s, 3. Army 3:20.32s; Team championship: Army 112 pts; Best athlete: Sandeep Sarkaria (Men).

Women: 800m: 1. Madhuri A. Singh (PSEB) 2:07.55s, 2. Geeta Manral (CRPF) 2:09.99s, 3. Sunita Dahiya (Har) 2:11.85s; 5000m: 1. Sabita Biswas (WB) 17:54.83s, 2. Pampa Chanda (WB) 18:16.73s, 3. Madhuri Gurnule (Mah) 18:42.65s; 20 km walk: 1. Y. Bala Devi (WB) 1hr, 48:14.4 s, 2. Jasmine Kaur (Pun) 1, 58:39.9s, 3. Rajdeep Kaur (Pun) 1, 59:33.3s; Pole vault: 1. Karamjit Kaur (Pun) 3.15 (National Record; Old: Own, 3.10m set in Calcutta, 2000), 2. Preethi (Kar) 2.50m, 3. Jyothna Deka (CRPF) 2.20m; High jump: 1. Sahana Kumari (Kar) 1.73m, 2. Harshini Kumari (Kar) 1.70m, 3. M. Sangeeta (TN) 1.65m; Shot put: 1. N. Latha (S. Rly) 15.67m, 2. Chaitali Paul (WB) 14.39m, 3. Harwant Kaur (Pun) 13.47m; Javelin: 1. Suman Devi (UP) 45.61m, 2. Manisha Mondal (WB) 45.23m, 3. S. Hemalatha (S. Rly) 44.17m; Heptathlon: 1. G.G. Pramila (S. Rly) 5825 pts (NMR), 2. Soma Biswas (WB) 5625, 3. R. Sneha Princy (TN) 4630; 4 x 100m relay: 1. West Bengal 47.22s, 2. Southern Railway 47.68s, 3. Karnataka 48.19s; 4 x 400m relay: 1. Southern Railway 3:49.37s, 2. Tamil Nadu 3:51.05s, 3. CRPF 3:55.78s; Team championship: West Bengal 98 pts; Best athlete: K.M. Beenamol.

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