18-year-old Sanjana wins second gold as India dominates Day 2 of SAAF Senior C''ships

Ranchi, Oct 25 (PTI) Eighteen-year-old Sanjana Singh claimed her second gold medal by winning the women's 1500m as India scooped seven out of the 11 yellow metals on offer to dominate the proceedings on the second and penultimate day of the SAAF Senior Championships here on Saturday.

Sanjana clocked 4 minute, 25.36 seconds to beat Sri Lanka’s W K L Arachch Nimali (4:25.52) for the 1500m gold. The Rohtak girl had earlier won 5000m gold on the opening day on Friday..

Another Indian in the fray, Kajal Kanwade was third with 4:26.21.

“It was a good learning experience for me to compete with better runners,” said Sanjana, whose father is a Sub Inspector in Harayna Police.

Sri Lanka, however, ran away with both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay gold medals, as India had to satisfy for the silver medals in both the events. The island nation had also won bother men's and women's individual 100m gold medals on Friday.

Just like on Friday, it was a fight between Indian and Sri Lankan athletes in all the 11 events on Saturday. India won seven gold while Sri Lanka claimed four.

India continued to top the medal tally with 12 gold, 14 silver and 7 bronze with one day left in the championships. Sri Lanka have collected 8 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze, while Nepal are third with 3 bronze.

The Sri Lankan men’s 4x100m team clocked a meet record time of 39.99 seconds, ahead of India’s 40.65 seconds. The Indian team comprised of Prathik Maharana, J Singh Dhillon, Harsh Raut and Pranav Gurav.

The India women’s 4x100m relay team of Tamanna, M V Jilna, Sudeshna Shivankar and Sakshi Chavan clocked 44.93 seconds to finish second behind Sri Lanka (44/70)..

In the men’s 1500m, Arjun Waskale clocked 3 minute, 54.58 seconds to win the gold. The other Indian in the fray, Sunil Dawar was initially given the third spot but later disqualified under Technical Rule 17.1.2 (jostling or obstruction). Sri Lanka’s Gallage Rusiru Chath (3:55.12) and Rojideen Mohamathu (3:55.95) won the silver and bronze respectively.

R Manav won the men’s 110m hurdles with a meet record time of 13.78 seconds while Sri Lanka’s Ranatungage Roshan took the silver with 13.90 seconds. Another Indian M Krishik won the bronze with 14.01 seconds.

It was 1-2 for India in the women’s 100m hurdles with K Nandhini took the gold with a meet record time of 13.56 seconds and Moumita Mondal was second with 13.81 seconds. Sri Lanka’s Wijeweera Vitha was third with 13.98 seconds.

In the women’s discus throw also, it was a 1-2 with Seema Kaliramna taking the gold with 55.14m while Nidhi won the silver with a distance of 52.18m. Sri Lanka’s Asgiriye Gedara Vinod took the bronze with 43.01m.

Kirpal Singh and Nirbhay Singh clinched the men’s discus gold and silver respectively, clearing distances of 56.22m and 56.00m, while Sri Lanka’s W D M Milant Sampat won the bronze with 49.35m.

The men’s high jump gold went to Sri Lanka’s Samaraweera Aratha who scaled a height of 2.17m while India’s Rohit (2.15m) and Aadarsh Ram (2.09m) were second and third respectively.

India and Sri Lanka shared the spoils in the quarter-mile events. Neeru Pathak and Olimba Steffi of the host country finished first and second, clocking 53.15 seconds and 54.13 seconds respectively. Sri Lanka’s Mendis Balapuwa Sayu was third with 54.18 seconds.

The men’s 400m gold, however, went to Sri Lanka’s Hewa Kumarage Kalin who clocked 46.21 seconds. India’s Mohammed Ashfaq was second with a time of 46.56 seconds. PTI PDS PDS KHS