TN claim overall title in National Junior athletics c'ships

Tamil Nadu clinched the overall title ahead of hosts Kerala in the 25th National Inter-Zonal Junior Athletics Championships, which concluded here today.
With 440.5 points in their kitty, Tamil Nadu finished on top ahead of second-placed Kerala (378) at the Maharaja College Stadium.
Tamil Nadu bagged 28 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze medals, followed by Kerala (24-18-19), Maharashtra (14-12-15), Haryana (11-14-4) and West Bengal (8-11-11).
In the girls' category, Kerala, riding on a superb final day performance climbed to the top spot with 257 points.
Kerala athletes accounted for two of the three national marks that was set on the final day.

Young Gayathry Sivakumar set a new national record in girls' under-14 high jump with an effort of 1.59m.

Half-miler Jessy Joseph, who clocked a personal best of 2:06.82s in the Open Nationals at Kochi earlier this month, bettered the official meet and set a new national youth girls' record in 800m race with a timing of 2:08.67s.
Meerut's Parul Chaudhary, who is holding the national youth record in steeplechase, set the final national record of the meet as she clocked an impressive 6:57.68s to win the 2000m steeplechase gold in the junior women category.
Her state-mate Arjun Kumar improved the meet record in youth boys' 3000m run with a timing of 8:37.97s.

In five out of eight age-groups, Tamil Nadu athletes were adjudged best athletes' award.
Other prominent winners of the day included Kerala walker K T Neena, distance runners Albin Sunny (Kerala) and Preeti Lamba (Delhi), sprinters Ch Sudhakar (Andhra Pradesh) and M S Arun (Tamil Nadu), half-milers Mandeep Goyat (Maharashtra) and Prem Kunj (Bihar), triple jumper Mohammed Salahuddin (TN) and steeplechaser Neha Singh (Madhya Pradesh).