National Federation Cup Athletics Competition Makes Low-Key Start

Vithya, part of the Indian women's 4x400m relay squad that booked a Paris Olympics berth in the Bahamas recently, pulled out immediately after the start of the women's 400m hurdles final race on the opening day of the competition at the Kalinga Stadium.

Veerpal Kaur of Punjab won the gold with a very slow time of 59.43 seconds. Salini Valupararambil of Kerala was second with a time of 1:00.73 while Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab took the third spot in 1:01.29.

The 25-year-old Vithya had run the first leg of the first round Olympic qualifying heat race but was replaced in the second round by Rupal Chaudhary in Nassau in the World Relays.

She had equalled the legendary PT Usha's 400m hurdles national record of 55.42 seconds during the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October last year.

"I am having back pain. There is still jet lag also as we returned from the Bahamas just a few days ago," Vithya told PTI.

Jyothika Sri Dandi, another member of the relay squad, said, "It was intense training and competition (for one month in the Bahamas) with Olympic qualification being the target, it was very intense. So, we are kind of taking time to get into another competition."

Vithya of Tamil Nadu had won the 400m hurdles gold in the last edition of this competition with a time of 57.51 seconds.

The men's 400m hurdles was won by Asian Championships bronze medallist Santosh Kumar of Tamil Nadu with a time of 50.04 seconds. Nikhil Bhardwaj (50.92) of Punjab and Dhaval Mahesh Utekar (51.13) of Gujarat were second and third respectively.

"I had planned to break the 50-second barrier here in Bhubaneswar. But something went wrong somewhere. I will compete in Taiwan at the end of this month and hopefully will be able to achieve my goal (of qualifying for the Olympics),” Santosh said later.

West Bengal’s Lilly Das won the women’s 5,000m on her debut race. Her gold medal-winning time was 16:31.05.

The four-day event has become a high-profile one after Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra decided to participate in it. He is competing in a domestic event for the first time in three years. He had taken part in the 2021 edition of the same event.

The qualifying round of the men's javelin event will be held on Tuesday while the final will be on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a dope testing team of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has arrived here to take samples from the athletes.

"It's an Olympic qualifying event, so I think the NADA is here well on time from the first day itself," an official said.

Results (only finals):

Men: 400m hurdles: Santosh Kumar T (Tamil Nadu) 50.04 seconds, Nikhil Bhardwaj (Punjab) 50.92 seconds, Dhaval Mahesh Utekar (Gujarat) 51.13 seconds.

Pole vault: Dev Kumar Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.10m, Shekhar Kumar Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 4.90m, Hariharan R (Tamil Nadu) 4.0m.

Women: 400m hurdles: Veerpal Kaur (Punjab) 59.43 seconds, Salini Valuparambil (Kerala) 1:00.73 seconds, Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1:01.29 seconds.

Javelin throw: Rashmi K (Andhra Pradesh) 54.75m, Karishma S (Karnataka) 49.91m, Rupinder Kaur (Punjab) 47.66m.

Triple jump: M Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 13.53m, Sheena NV (Kerala) 13.32m, Gayathry Sivakumar (Kerala) 13.08m.