AFI Media

Chandigarh: Impressive performance of Haryana’s steeplechase specialist Priti Lamba in the fifth leg of the Indian Grand Prix that concluded at Chandigarh on Monday has got the approval of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) selection committee for the Hangzhou Asian Games, AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said.

Uttar Pradesh’s quarter-miler Prachi and Assam’s Sprinter Amlan Borgohain have also got AFI selection committee approval to compete at the Asian Games scheduled to commence from September 23. The track and field events will start September 29.

Prachi will compete in the women’s 4x400m relay, while Borgohain will compete in the men’s 200m. His season best was 20.55 seconds.

The AFI selection panel has dropped injured Akshdeep Singh and replaced by Vikash Singh in the men’s 20km race walk.

Bal Kishan missed the chance to make the cut for the Asian Games as he trailed at seventh place in the men’s steeplechase. He clocked 8:55.96 secs.

The men and women’s 4x100m relay teams were not selected for the Asian Games.

The men’s team clocked 39.24 seconds and the women’s squad time was 45.66 seconds.

“The Indian Grand Prix leg in Chandigarh was a good chance for me to prove my fitness. I’m excited to have earned a ticket to China,” Priti said.

Hangzhou Asian Games bound Tamil Nadu’s 24 years old R Vithya Ramraj too hogged the limelight as she narrowly missed the national women’s 400m hurdles record of 55.42 seconds clocked by legendary PT Usha at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Running in lane number five Vithya ran a race of her life to clock 55.43 seconds in the 400m hurdles on the final day of the fifth leg of the Indian Grand Prix on Monday. “I just missed that long standing record by a fraction. I’m not upset but more confident of breaking that long standing record in my next race,” Vithya said in the post-race interaction.

On Sunday, the opening day of the IGP, she dominated the women’s 400m clocking 52.40 seconds.

Vithya was confident of a podium at the Hangzhou Asian Games starting September 23 in China. “The competition in China will be more challenging. It will certainly give me a chance to further improve my performance,” she added.

At Bhubaneswar’s national inter state athletics championships held in June, Vithya won the 400m hurdles with a time of 56.01 secs. “I was a bit tired during the race as I was competing in two races in Bhubaneswar. But I knew I could do better in future,” Vithya recalls.

Results:

800m: Ankesh Chaudhary (Himachal Pradesh) 1:48.12 secs, Sree Kiran (Tamil Nadu) 1:48.66 secs, Prakash Gadade (Maharashtra) 1:48.88 secs.

400m hurdles: Yashas P (Karnataka) 49.69 seconds (Karnataka), Dhaval Mahesh Utekar (Gujarat) 51.23 secs, Vijay Singh Malik (Haryana) 51.25 secs.

3000m steeplechase: MD Nur Hasan (Uttar Pradesh) 8:35.00, Ankit Rajesh (Haryana) 8:44.04 secs, Pukeshwar Lal (Chhattisgarh) 8:44.90 secs.

Shot put: Sahib Singh (Delhi) 18.29m, Amandeep Singh (Punjab) 18.28m, Paramjeet Singh (Chandigarh) 17.38m.

Long jump: Aditya Kumar Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 7.62m, Rishabh Rishishwar (Uttar Pradesh) 7.53m, Sahil Mahabali (Haryana) 7.46m.

4x100m relay: Team A: Harjit Singh, Amlan Borgohain, Amiya Kumar Mallick, Siva Kumar B 39.24 secs, Team B: 40.63 secs. Team C: 41.64 secs.

Women:

400m hurdles: R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) 55.43 seconds, Sinchal Kaveramma (Karnataka) 58.46 secs, Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1:01.02 secs.

3000m steeplechase: Priti Lamba (Haryana) 9: 45.13 secs, Kajalben Dineshbhai (Gujarat) 12:56.12 secs.

Hammer throw: Tanya Chaudhary (UP) 62.60m, KM Rachna (UP) 60.71m, KM Fatma (UP) 49.70m.

Discus throw: Seema (Uttar Pradesh) 57.96m, Anisha (Delhi) 47.72m. Sunita of Haryana didn’t compete.

High jump: Rubina Yadav (Haryana) 1.79m, Abhinaya S Shetty (Karnataka) 1.79m, Rekha (Haryana) 1.70m.

4x100m relay: Team A: Nithya Gandhe, Vijaya Kumari, Srabani Nanda, Jyothi Yarraji 44.66 secs. Team B: 45.36. Team C: 47.90m.