Agencies
LUCKNOW, June 6: Mayookha Johny became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as she cleared 6.56m in the women’s long jump at the 54th National Inter-state Senior Athletic Championships here on Thursday. The win is a sort of rebirth for the petite 26-year-old ace jumper, who was laid low by a string of injuries last season. Needing to breach the 6.44m qualifying mark, the Kerala athlete touched her day’s best of 6.56m in the third jump. She was given a fitting challenge by the young and promising V Neena, who eventually had to settle for the second spot with an effort of 6.23m. Neena, also from Kerala, was representing Jharkhand. Meanwhile, MA Prajusha, Mayookha’s archrival, failed to live up to the occasion and ended fourth with a disappointing 5.99m.
Mayookha, who was out of action last season, came to the fore with a mediocre 6.27m in the SAI-organised National Meet in Kerala last month. This was her second major outing this season. Satisfied with the result, Mayookha said she would have been doubly happy if she had got more competitions in the layoff season. “I had asked the officials concerned to send me for two-three events but they didn’t listen. Now, I will ask them to send me for the Asian All Star Athletics Meet,” she told TNIE. Apart from Mayookha’s effort, the day was otherwise forgettable. OP Jaisha of Punjab essayed win in women’s 5000m event in the absence of national-record holder Preeja Sreedharan. Jaisha clocked 15:57.05. In men’s 5000m, Indrajeet Patel bagged the pole position with 14:02.84. However, promising long jumped K Premkumar of Tamil Nadu was in for a shock, as he didn’t qualify for the finals. The national-record holder finished a sorry 12th in the prelims with a best of 7m. |
