The young brigade proved that the future of Kerala
athletics
is in their safe hands with eye-catching performances on the final day of the 64th
Kerala State Athletics Championships
which concluded at Calicut University Stadium, Tenjhipalam on Thursday.
Muhammed Hanan
of Malappuram in boys under-18 110m hurdles and Alphonsa Treesa Terin of Kottayam in girls U-14 triathlon hogged the limelight on the final day.
Apart from the duo,
Aparna Roy
, who made her debut in heptathlon, came out in flying colours as she set a new mark in the girls U-20 event. She tallied 4712 points and thus eclipsed the old record of 4586 points in the name of Niksy Joseph set in 2009.
"Oh, I'm glad that I bettered the meet record in the first attempt in the heptathlon. I'm loving it," said Aparna, a hurdles national junior champion and state record holder.
Saniya Treesa Tomy of
Kozhikode
who stunned PT Usha trainees Prathibha Varghese and Elga Thomas in 400m did an encore in 200m, so did Asian youth 400m champion Abdul Razzack CR and Abhijit K of
Palakkad
who returned home with a golden double in 100m, 200m.
It was double delight for local boy Hanan, the new national champion in boys U-18 110m hurdles. He wrested the record gold after a gap of two years and the Tirur boy did a world of good to himself. Hanan will be rushing to Ooty for an interview with the Army on Friday.
His time of 13.97 seconds erased Maymon Poulose's old record of 13.98s set in 2014. In the Guwahati national junior meet held early this month, the lanky soft-spoken boy clocked a better time of 13.94s for gold.
"I'm really happy with my performance particularly I will be appearing for the Army interview. At 18, a job will help me secure my life," said Hanan, who will complete 17 next Monday. The third son of Karim, a house driver in Abu Dhabi and homemaker Noorjehan, Hanan is trained by his elder brother Arshad, an MPeD student, for the past three years. His other elder brother is also a hurdler who won a silver in the senior meet on Wednesday.
Alphonsa won an early birthday gift when he garnered 1715 points to set a new mark in the U-16 girls triathlon event. She will be celebrating her 15th birthday on Sunday. The old record of 1545 was set by Janice Treesa Regi in 2019.
In boys U-14 ball throw event introduced for the first time instead of javelin was won by Vishnu PK of Wayanad who threw the cricket ball weighing 159 grammes to 66.65 metres. Vishnu, a Kurichi tribal boy hailing from Valayeri, had won a silver in the national junior meet held a fortnight ago.
Results (records only): GIRLS U-20 Heptathlon: Aparna Roy (Kkd, 4712 pts NMR, OR 4586 by Niksy Joseph in 2009), Anudhra KR (Ekm, 3332), Vismaya P (Knr, 2568); U-16 triathlon: Alhonsa Treesa Terin (Ktm, 1715 pts NMR, OR 1545 by Janice Treesa Regi in 2019), Adithya Aji (Ktm, 1474), Sainandhana S (Pkd, 1472); BOYS U-18 110m hurdles: Md Hanan V(Mlpm, 13.97s NMR, 13.98s by Maymon Poulose in 2014), Viswajith RK (Pkd, 15.11s), Rishikesh PA (Tsr, 15.61s)
Overall champions SENIORS: Kottayam (206 points), Ernakulam (174), Palakkad (103); JUNIORS: Palakkad (482), Kozhikode (441), Ernakulam (375.5)
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