National Interstate Athletics Championships: Tajinderpal Singh Toor narrowly misses Commonwealth Games mark, B Aishwarya excels in long jump 

Tajinderpal Singh Toor, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games champion, crossed the 20m barrier on his way to winning gold in men’s shot put at the National Interstate Athletics Championships. However, he fell short of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games mark of 20.50m, in Chennai on Sunday.

The biggest surprise of the day came from the long jump pit when 24-year-old B Aishwarya of Karnataka recorded a massive jump of 6.73m in the qualification round of the women’s event. The jump was better than the meet record of 6.63m set by Mayookha Johny in 2011. The long jump final is on Monday.

The shot put final saw Toor consistently going past 20m in three of his six throws on Sunday. He started with 19.51m and raised his performance to 20.14m on his second throw. The third attempt was a 'no throw' while the fourth was a 20.29m effort by Toor.

The fifth was again a 'no throw'. The last and sixth attempt was 20.34m which was narrowly short of the Commonwealth Games mark of 20.50m.

Uttar Pradesh’s Olympian Anu Rani was more consistent and achieved a Commonwealth Games mark of 59.50m. Anu’s gold winning efforts were 60.97m.

Hima Das misses Commonwealth Games qualification mark in relay

India’s national 4x100m relay team consisting of star sprinters Hima Das, Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, and Dhana Lakshmi won gold medal with a time of 43.95 seconds. Still, they were slower than the Commonwealth Games qualification time of 43.35 seconds.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) didn’t field national 4x100m relay team in the men’s group. Tamil Nadu was the winner with a time of 39.88 seconds.

Results (all finals):

Men

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Balkishan (Haryana) 8:42.34; 2. Rohit Verma (Haryana) 8:46.43; 3. Rakesh Kumar Swami (Rajasthan) 8:46.64.

110m Hurdles: 1. Siddhanth Thingalaya (Maharashtra) 13.93 seconds; 2. J Surendhar (Tamil Nadu) 14.18; 3. Tarundeeep Singh Bhatia (Punjab) 14.21.

High Jump: 1. Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.24m; 2. Jesse Sandesh (Karnataka) 2.21; 3. Bharathi Viswanathan (Tamil Nadu) 2.18.

Shot Put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Punjab) 20.34m; 2. Karanveer Singh (Punjab) 19.07; 3. Akshay (Rajasthan) 18.31.

4x100m Relay: 1. Tamil Nadu (S Tamilarasu, K Elakkiyadasan, A Vignesh and B Sivakumar) 39.88 seconds (New Meet Record. Old: 40.22, Tamil Nadu, Guwahati, 2028); 2. Punjab 40.46; 3. Maharashtra 40.88.

Women

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 9:42.16; 3. Sudha Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 10:05.72; 3. Komal Chandrakant Jagdale (Maharashtra) 10:07.57.

100m Hurdles: 1. C Kanimozhi (Tamil Nadu) 13.62 seconds; 2. Moumita Mondal (West Bengal) 13.86; 3. P Thabitha (Tamil Nadu) 14.09.

Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 60.97m; 2. Shilpa Rani (Haryana) 59.01; 3. Sanjana Choudhary (Rajasthan) 56.14m.

4x100m Relay: 1. India (Dutee Chand, Hima Das, S Dhanalakshmi and Srabani Nanda) 43.95 seconds (New Meet Record. Old: 45.69, Tamil Nadu, 2019); 2. Sri Lanka 45.35; 3. Kerala 45.71.