Babu Bhai walks away with an Olympic berth

Oct 25: Armyman Babu creates new national & meet record in men’s 2000 m walk

Services Babu Bhai walked away with an Olympic berth after setting up a new national and meet record in the men’s 2000 m walk whereas the supremacy of Railways athletes continued on the second day at the 47th National Open Athletics Championship at the J R D Tata sports complex here on Wednesday.

The 29-year old Babu Bhai clocked 1::23:40.0s, exactly 50 seconds less than the Olympic qualifying mark of 1::24: 30.0s. The best ever by an Indian thus far, which also made him eligible to compete with some stalwarts in the Beijing Games next year.

"Army makes you walk hard," Babu said after cornering glory.

The hero of the day Babu Bhai won the gold medal surpassing the seven-year-old national mark of 1:25:21.70 sec set by Gurdev Singh, Chennai and also bettered the 17-year-old meet record of Delhi’s C. S. Rathi 1:25:48.0, by clocking 1:23:40.0. His team mate P S Jalan finished second clocking 1:27:10:0 to bag silver while Maharashtra’s Harvinder Singh picked up bronze.

Railways sprinters asserted their supremacy in the women’s 100m by clinching all the medals. Sharda N clocked 11.83 seconds bagging gold while Poonam Tomar and Nidhi settled for silver and bronze clocking 12.03 seconds each.

Railways N Sharda was the most content person after winning the event, as she had raced against her compatriot Poonam Tomar for at least 10 times before in the past, if not more. And this was this first time that she had pulled out victory by running 20 seconds faster than her, emerging winner at the end.

"Finally, I have proved myself," Sharda said with tears flowing from her eyes.

However, in the men’s 100m, Services sprinter Sameer Moin bagged the gold with 10.53 seconds while Jagdish Basak of All India Petroleum Sports Control Board (AIPSCB) and Vilas Nilgund of Railways got silver and bronze timing 10.57 seconds and 10.59 seconds respectively.

Railways sprinters continued their good run in both the 400m men’s and women’s events by capturing gold medals. Bibin Mathew clocked 47.55 seconds in the men’s event while Geetha ran in 54.71 seconds to clinch gold in the women’s section.

S K Mortaza of Services (47.68 S) and Sriniwas Rao(47.94 S) of Railways bagged silver and the bronze in the men’s event while in the women’s event Mandeep Kaur of ONGC and Tintu Luka of Kerala got silver and bronze clocking 55.33 and 55.76 seconds respectively..

Railways Ritu Rani pocketed gold hammer throw by logging a distance of 55.94m while Archana and Phulpati of AIPSB clinched silver and bronze.

RESULTS OF ALL WINNERS (SECOND DAY)

MEN: 100m: Sameer Mol (Ser) 10.53s, 400m: Bibin Mathew (Railways) 47.55s, 110m hurdles: P Muthu Swamy (Railways) 14.10s, Pole vault: Bimal KP (Railways) 4.80m, 20km walk: Babu Bhai (Ser) 1::23:40.0s, Javelin throw: Anil Singh (Railways) 72.84m, and Shot put: Satyender Kumar (Railways) 18.05m.

WOMEN: 100m: N Sharda (Railways) 11.83s, 400m: Geetha Satti (Railways) 54.71s, 100m hurdles: Poonam Bojanna (Karnataka) 14.08s, Triple jump: Kulwinder Kaur (AIPSCB) 12.84m, Javelin throw: Mukesh Kumari (Railways) 45.96m and Heptathlon: JJ Shobha (Railways) 5508 points.