Aldrin beats Sreeshankar for long jump gold; Amlan and Jyothi emerge fastest man and woman of National Games

The
24-year-old
Rosy
cleared
4.20m
to
go
past
VS
Surekha’s
earlier
national
mark
of
4.15m
set
in
2014.
Her
two
Tamil
Nadu
team-mates,
Pavitha
Vengatesh
and
Baranica
Elangovan
were
distance
second
and
third
with
efforts
of
4m
and
3.90m
respectively.

In
men’s
long
jump,
Jeswin
Aldrin
of
Tamil
Nadu
beat
Commonwealth
Games
silver
medallist
Murali
Sreeshankar
of
Kerala
for
the
gold
in
a
high-quality
competition
to
qualify
for
the
2023
World
Athletics
Championships.
Aldrin
jumped
8.26m
in
his
sixth
and
last
attempt
to
win
the
gold
and
go
past
the
World
Championships
qualifying
mark
of
8.25m.

He
also
had
two
other
8m-plus
jumps
—
8.07m
and
8.21m.
Sreeshankar,
who
won
a
silver
in
the
Birmingham
CWG
in
August
and
holds
the
national
record
of
8.36m,
had
a
best
jump
of
7.93m,
which
he
came
up
in
his
first
attempt.
He
had
another
jump
of
7.55m
before
passing
all
the
remaining
four
attempts.
Another
top
long
jumper,
Muhammed
Anees
Yahiya
of
Kerala
was
third
with
a
best
jump
of
7.92m.

Meanwhile,
Amlan
Borgohain
of
Assam
and
Jyothi
Yarraji
of
Andhra
Pradesh
emerged
as
the
fastest
man
and
woman
respectively
of
the
National
Games
after
clinching
gold
in
the
100m
dash
events.
Jyothi,
whose
pet
event
is
100m
hurdles
in
which
she
holds
the
national
record,
stunned
the
likes
of
Dutee
Chand
(Odisha)
and
Hima
Das
(Assam),
to
win
the
women’s
100m
gold
with
a
time
of
11.51
seconds.

Tamil
Nadu’s
Archana
Suseendran
(11.55s)
and
Maharashtra’s
Diandra
Valladares
(11.62s)
won
the
silver
and
bronze
respectively.
National
record
holder
Dutee
finished
sixth
with
a
time
of
11.69s
while
Hima
was
seventh
in
11.74s.

“I
didn’t
come
here
thinking
of
winning
or
losing.
I
just
wanted
to
give
a
good
timing
and
that
helped
me
come
up
with
my
fastest
race,”
Jyothi
said.
“They
(Dutee
and
Hima)
have
always
encouraged
me
and
I
thank
them
for
their
support.
I
am
just
happy
that
I
won
and
don’t
think
on
the
lines
that
I
beat
them,”
she
added.

Borgohain
clocked
10.38s
in
the
men’s
100m
dash
to
stand
on
the
top
of
the
podium.
Tamil
Nadu
runners
Elakiyadasan
VK
(10.44)
and
Siva
Kumar
B
(10.48)
were
second
and
third
respectively.

“You
know,
it’s
like
a
stage
show,
sometimes
you
perform,
sometimes
you
don’t,”
Borgohain
said.

Asked
about
the
hot
conditions
during
the
race,
he
said,
“I
don’t
think
about
it
much.
It
is
the
same
for
everyone,
isn’t
it?
In
the
All-India
Railway
competition,
I
ran
at
2
PM
in
similar
weather
conditions
and
clocked
10.25
seconds.
So,
I
am
experienced
in
this
kind
of
weather.”

Borgohain
also
took
the
opportunity
to
highlight
the
sacrifices
his
family
had
made
to
help
him
make
a
career
in
athletics.
“You
see
this,”
he
said,
pointing
to
his
arm
on
which
he
had
tattooed
‘Maa’.

“I
was
in
Orissa
and
was
thinking
of
my
mother
and
simply
went
and
got
this
inscribed
on
myself,”
he
said,
adding
that
he
didn’t
tell
his
mother
before
getting
it
done.”