Senior National Athletics State Championships 2012 Review Part 1

An enthusuatic and vibrant 52nd Naional State Championships concluded at the Balyogi Stadium in Hyderabad. At the backdrop of Olympic Qualification , Kerala once again dominated proceedings and were the honoured the National Champions with an impressive tally of 10 Golds, 7 Silvers and 11 Bronze medals. Punjab finished second with 5 Golds followed closely by Uttar Pradesh with 4 Gold medals.

We have followed for the sake of this review the International Olympic system, of mapping Medals with postions for obtaining overall Championship Rankings. The Athletics Federation of India awards State Teams with Championship Points. Thus Kerala finished at the top with 192 points followed by Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with 82 and 79.5 points respectively.

( Only top-3 positions for Day 1 ,2 and 3 displayed. Complete Tally at the end of final day , Day 4 on the left )

As usual the North Indian states dominated the Throw Events in both Mens and Womens category whereas the Southern Indian States captured most medals in the Jump section which includes High Jump , Long Jump , Triple Jump and Pole Vault. Similarly in sprints , Karnataka , Tamil Nadu , Andhra led by Kerala were supreme grasping most medals while in mid and long distances Western States of Maharashtra and Rajasthan, Eastern states like West Bengal , Manipur and Odisha as well as their Northern counterparts ruled the podium.

Only 1 National Record was broken in the Championships. Karnataka’s High Jumper Sahana Kumari passed the crossbar kept at 1.92m to break the National Record.

Apart from Tinti Luka all other athletes who have qualified for the London Olympics gave the inter State Championships a miss owing to their training schedules. Indian Athletes who have not qualified for the Olympics yet, like Siddhanth Thingalaya, have chosen to participate in International events. Only Sahana Kumari booked Olympic qualification through the 2012 Senior inter-state Championships in Hyderabad.

Part 2 of the review covers in detail the Performances and Timings of the athletes during the Championships.