65th Kerala State schools athletics championships | Palakkad completes a hattrick of triumphs; Bejoy guns down Lijo Mani’s record again
The Hindu
Best school: Ideal EHSS, Kadakassery, Malappuram (57 pts).17-yr-old KUNNAMKULAM J. Bejoy broke 11-yr-old 800m record of former national star Lijo Mani at 65th State schools athletics championships. Bejoy won 3 golds (800m, 1500m, 3000m) & shared individual championship with Malappuram's Muhammed Muhassin & Palakkad's P. Abiram. Palakkad won overall championship & Ideal EHSS, Kadakassery was best school.
J. Bejoy has been gunning down former national star Lijo Mani’s records one after another. After bettering Mani’s Kerala under-18 800m record at the recent State junior meet in Malappuram, the 17-year-old did it again at the 65th State schools athletics championships here on Friday.
Bejoy broke Mani’s 11-year-old record in the senior boys 800m and in the process improved his personal best by nearly two seconds within the space of some 20 days.
“I run around 8 to 9km every day. My favourite events are the 800 and 1500m and my goal is to get a medal at the Nationals,” said the youngster whose parents are daily wage workers at Chittur Village in Palakkad.
Bejoy had an easy day in the two-lapper, finishing more than four seconds ahead of the second-placed Muhammed Mashhood to collect his third gold here. He had won the 1500m and 3000m earlier. That also saw him share the individual championship in the senior boys category with Malappuram’s Muhammed Muhassin – who took the long jump, triple jump and high jump golds – and the meet’s top star P. Abiram of Palakkad who won the 200m for his third gold here.
Palakkad (266 points, 28 golds) won the overall championship to complete a hat-trick of triumphs and also topped the boys’ and girls’ team tables. Malappuram’s Ideal EHSS, Kadakassery (57 points) finished as the best school with Ernakulam’s Mar Basil HSS (Kothamangalam, 46 points) taking the second spot.
The results (winners only):
Boys: Seniors: 200m: P. Abiram (Pkd) 22.03s. 800m: J. Bejoy (Pkd) 1:51.13s MR, OR 1:51.77, Lijo Mani, 2012. Triple jump: Mohammed Muhassin (Mlp) 15.22m. Pole vault: Bibin Sabu (Ekm) 4.30m. Shot put: K.C. Servan (Ksd) 17.58m MR, OR 16.53, Alex Thankachan, 2018. 4x400m relay: Kozhikode (3:22.91).
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.