Gold without Oly mark for Manu

Bengaluru: The men’s shot put event, which was supposed to be the main attraction, turned into a no-show while Karnataka’s Manu DP expectedly delivered a strong performance to walk away with the biggest applause in the opening leg of the Indian Grand Prix-1 here on Tuesday.

Many aspiring young athletes at the Sree Kanteerava stadium waited anxiously for the men’s shot put event which was scheduled to kick off under lights. Although there were just three competitors in that discipline as compared to many others that had a lot more teeing up, the presence of Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the reigning Asian Games and Asian Championship gold medallist, added lots of interest to it. How often do track and field faithful in the City get to watch a continental champion in action. 

But their wish went unfulfilled as not only did Tajinderpal skip the event, his two rivals — Sourabh Vij and Siddharth Rao — also didn’t turn up, leaving the organisers somewhat perplexed. “None of the three athletes turned up in call room. We waited till the cut-off time but none showed up. So the event stands cancelled,” said an official.

It’s quite bizarre as this was a great opportunity for Tajinderpal to button down his Paris Olympics ticket with this event being one of the qualifying events. That would have given the 29-year-old, who has been in the City since middle of last week to promote a 10K run that was held on Sunday, ample time to prepare for the biggest event this summer.

Manu, hoping to join reigning Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena as the third member in the javelin throw line-up, totally lived up to the favourite tag on a hot evening by emerging champion. He opened with a 76.78-metre effort, then dipped to 73.46 before securing victory with a solid throw of 81.91 in his third  attempt. He failed in his last three efforts but that didn’t matter for the 24-year-old.

Jesse Sandesh (high jump) and Abhinaya Shetty (high jump) were the other gold medal winners for Karnataka, the State also securing three silver and two bronze. 

Meanwhile, none of the athletes could breach the Olympic qualifying mark. 

Results: Men: 100m: Animesh Kujur (Odi) 10.51s, 1; Lalu Prasad Bhoi (Odi) 2; Gitson I (TN) 3.

200m: Animesh Kujur (Odi) 20.97, 1; Jay Shah (Mah) 2; Nalubothu Shanumaga S (AP) 3.  

800m: Ankesh Chadhary (HP) 1:47.72, 1; Mohammed Afsal (Ker) 2; Sahil Khan (Raj) 3.

3000m steeplechase: Shankar Lal Swami (Har) 9:12.55, 1; Ashok Dandasena (Odi) 2.

Triple jump: Praveen Chithravel (TN) 17.12m, 1; Eldhose Paul (Ker) 2; Mohammed Salahuddin (TN) 3. High jump: Jesse Sandesh (Kar) 2.20, 1; Aadarsh Ram (TN) 2; Bharath Raj B (Ker) 3.

Javelin throw: Manu DP (Kar) 81.91, 1; Uttam Balasaheb Patil (Mah) 2; Vikas Yadav (UP) 3. 

Long jump: Aditya Kumar Singh (MP) 8.01, 1; Aravinthe E (TN) 2; Arya S (Kar) 3.

Women: 100m: Nithya Gandhe (Tlg) 11.78, 1; Srabani Nanda (Odi) 2; V Sudheeksha (Kar) 3.

200m: Vismaya VK (Ker) 23.96, 1; Nithya Gandhe (Tlg) 2; Srabani Nanda (Odi) 24.04. 

800M: Laxmipriya Nisan (Odi) 2:10.88, 1; Arpitha EB (Kar) 2; Shivani Kumari (Bih) 3.

3000m steeplechase: Sonam (Del) 10:43.65, 1; Nikita (Raj) 2; Susmita Tigga (Odi) 3.

High jump: Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 1.74, 1; Mohur Mukherjee (WB) 2.

Triple jump: Sheena NV (Ker) 13.48, 1; Gayathry Sivakumar (Ker) 2; Sharvari Avinash Parule (Mah) 3. 

Shot put: Abha Khatua (Mah) 16.59, 1; Ambika V (Kar) 2.

Javelin throw: Rashmi K (AP) 53.77, 1; Ramyashree Jain (Kar) 2; Vishakha Panwar (UP) 3.

Long jump: Shaili Singh (UP) 6.52, 1; Nayana James (Ker) 2; Susmita (Raj) 3.