Sandeep Sarkaria of Delhi and Rakhi Saha of West Bengal emerged as the fastest athletes winning the men’s and women’s 100m sprint events respectively on the opening day of the three-day Mihira Federation Cup athletics championships at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, here today. As expected Asian Games gold medalist Neelam J Singh walked away with the gold honours in the women’s discus event, adding one more to her long list of achievements. Despite suffering from a minor shoulder injury, the experienced Neelam proved too good, winning the gold with a distance of 58.95 meters. RESULTS (All Finals) Men’s: 100m: 1. Sandeep Sarkaria (Delhi) 10.51s; 2. Sanjay Ghosh (Army) 10.52s; 3. Piyush Kumar (Del) 10.61s. 1500m: 1. Kuldip Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 3:50.63s; Pritam Bind (UP) 3:52.73s, 3. Sunil Kumar (Haryana) 3:52.96s. 10,000m: 1. I N Shivanand (Andhra Pradesh) 32:31.32s, 2. Baliram Disale (Maharshtra) 32:33.94s, 3. Soji Mathew (Kerala) 32:34.93s. Shot put: 1. Jayveer Singh (Army) 18.30m, 2. Kulwinder Singh (Punjab Police) 17.88m, 3. Malkhan Singh (Haryana) 17.62m. Women’s: 100m: 1. Rakhi Saha (West Bengal) 12.06s, 2. Mukti Saha (West Bengal) 12.12s, 3. Greeshma KM (Kerala) 12.16s. 1500m: 1. Madhuri A Singh (AIESCB) 4:26.18s, 2. Hemlatha (Karnataka) 4:32.98s; 3. S Santhi (Tamil Nadu) 4:45.75s. 10,000m: 1. L Aruna Devi (West Bengal) 36:32.66s, 2. Ashwini Dukander (Maharashtra) 39:13.93s, 3. Bashanti Biswas (West Bengal) 40:02.39s. Discus: 1. Neelam J Singh (Haryana) 58.95m, 2. Harwant Kaur (Punjab Police) 56.88m, 3. Seema Antil (CRPF) 54.59m. Looking at the bigger target ahead, the forthcoming World Championships in Paris next month, the 32-year-old said, ‘‘I am going to give my best. It all depends on my performance on that particular day.’’ In the men’s 100m, 24-year-old Sandeep Sarkaria clocked 10.51 seconds to clinch the gold while Sanjay Ghosh of Army, who won the 100m event at the Chennai Circuit meet, had to be content with silver here. ‘‘It was a close race,’’ remarked the lanky Sandeep, who recorded his best in the European Circuit in Budapest two years back clocking 10.39s. Piyush Kumar of Delhi took the bronze with a timing of 10.61s. The West Bengal sisters Rakhi (12.06s) and Mukthi Saha (12.12s) finished one-two in the women’s 100m sprint, claiming gold and silver respectively. It proved easy for the 21-year-old Rakhi, who won the 100m gold at Nagarcoil and Chennai Circuit meets as well. ‘‘My aim is to win a medal at the Asian Track and Field event in Manila next,’’ remarked the promising Rakhi after the meet. Young Kerala girl KM Greeshma finished third with a timing of 12.16s. It was not a bad show for hosts Andhra Pradesh as two of its athletes won gold medals on the opening day. Local girl JJ Shobha, who won a heptathlon bronze at the Busan Asiad, clinched the long jump gold with a distance of 6.23m while I N Shivanand brought more smiles winning the men’s 10,000m with a timing of 32:31.32 seconds. In the 1,500 metres, Kuldip Kumar of Uttar Pradesh won the men’s gold with a timing 3:50.63 seconds while in the women’s section, Madhuri A Singh took the gold clocking 4:26.18 seconds.
