Jaisha wins second gold, Tintu named best athlete

Asian Games bronze-medal winner O.P. Jaisha won her second gold of the 54th National Open Athletics Championships on the concluding day of the event here Wednesday.

Jaisha, who plays for the Railway, claimed top spot in the 1,500 metres run, clocking four minutes and 17.8 seconds, ahead of ONGC's Sini Ajith Markose (4:21.89) and Sakshi (4:22.15).

She won her first gold Sunday in 5,000m with 16:13.61 and claimed bronze in 1,500m at Incheon Asiad with 4:13.46.

Asian Games silver medallist Tintu Luka of the Railways also won two golds after guiding the Railways 4x400m relay team to top spot in 3:47.77, ahead of ONGC (3:49.93) and Kerala (3:56.40).

She also won gold in women's 800m and was adjudged the best woman athlete of the championships. LIC's Ankit Sharma was named best man athlete after his new meet record exploits in long jump (7.87m).

Triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary bagged the yellow metal, jumping 16.09m, ahead of Services' U. Karthik (15.95m) and ONGC's Arpinder Singh (15.89m).

In the men's 10,000m race, Services' T. Gopi won gold in 29:32.26 and Kheta Ram silver with 29:32.75. ONGC's Suresh Kumar came in third with 29:32.96.

Niraj Kumar, of Services, took the top honours in the men's hammer throw with a distance of 68.86m. Railway's Pargat Singh was second with 64.46m while Services' Kaushal Singh third (62.36m).

Karnataka's M. Arpitha clocked 59.82 seconds to win gold in the women's 400m hurdles. She was followed by ONGC's Juana Murmu, who managed 1:00.25 and Uttar Pradesh's Monika Singh (1:03.47).

In women's discus throw, ONGC's Navjeet Kaur Dhillon emerged victorious, achieving a distance of 55.33m. Rajasthan's Praveen Kumari (49.90m) and Railway's Sandeep Kumari (48.83m) were second and third respectively.

Railways emerged on top in the overall team standings at the end of competitions, accumulating 315 points ahead of Services with 166 and ONGC on 117.