Athletics
Federation Cup Athletics: Sedate start to the tournament on a humid day
Star hurdler Vithya Ramraj pulled out of the 400m hurdles due to back pain summing up the sedate opening day of Athletics Federation Cup.
Indian Grand Prix - 3 promises a thrilling competition across 12 events
Bhubaneswar: The season opener tournament of Indian athletics on Sunday started on a low-key as a couple of favourites across events failed to finish their respective event.
Defending champion and joint National record holder 400m hurdler Vithya Ramraj didn't finish her event due to back pain while favourite in the Women's Javelin Throw Shilpa Rani recorded no mark.
Vithya pulled out of the women's 400m hurdles final race immediately after the start as her back troubled her.
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 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.
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 an important event with Olympic and World champion Neeraj Chopra confirming his participation in the tournament.
The qualifying round of the men's javelin event will be held on Tuesday while the final will be on Wednesday.
Federation Cup Day 1 Results (Only Finals):
Men's 400m hurdles: Santosh Kumar T (Tamil Nadu) 50.04 sec, Nikhil Bhardwaj (Punjab) 50.92 sec, Dhaval Mahesh Utekar (Gujarat) 51.13 sec.
Women's 400m hurdles: Veerpal Kaur (Punjab) 59.43 sec, Salini Valuparambil (Kerala) 1:00.73 sec, Ramandeep Kaur (Punjab) 1:01.29 sec.
Men's Pole vault: Dev Kumar Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.10m, Shekhar Kumar Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 4.90m, Hariharan R (Tamil Nadu) 4.0m.
Women's Javelin throw: Rashmi K (Andhra Pradesh) 54.75m, Karishma S (Karnataka) 49.91m, Rupinder Kaur (Punjab) 47.66m.
Women's Triple jump: M Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 13.53m, Sheena NV (Kerala) 13.32m, Gayathry Sivakumar (Kerala) 13.08m.
Women's 5000m: Lili Das (West Bengal) 16:31.05, Poonam (Maharashtra) 17:02.51, Kiran (Haryana) 17:06.64
