Patiala: Assam’s ace sprinter Hima Das won the women’s 200m race while Odisha’s Dutee Chand dominated 100m in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix meet here Thursday. However, the star of the day was Delhi’s Amoj Jacob. He recorded personal best time to win the men’s 400m. The 100m turned out to be a cakewalk for Dutee Chand. She clocked 11.44 seconds to win the event comfortably. She had clocked 11.51 seconds in the first leg February 18. Karnataka’s A Daneshwari was second at 11.89 seconds, while Maharashtra’s Diandra Dudley Valladares clocked 11.92 seconds for third place.
Hima’s winning time of 23.31 seconds in her first race after a long layoff due to back injury could be seen as good performance. However, it fell short of Tokyo Olympic qualification time of 22.80 seconds.
Hima, the 21-year-old 2018 world junior 400m champion and national record holder of 50.79 seconds, hasn’t done well over the one-lap race since April 2019 due to lower back pain. She has now switched to shorter sprints – 100m and 200m. She is also one of the key runners in the national women’s 4x100m relay team.
Amoj came up with a personal best time of 46.00 seconds to win the men’s 400m. In improving on the 46.26 seconds he clocked in June 2017, he showed a smart recovery from the injury that forced him to hobble out of the race in Grand Prix I last week.
Two of his relay squad teammates – Arokia Rajiv (Tamil Nadu) and Muhammed Anas Yahiya (Kerala) – were locked in a fascinating contest over the 200m sprint – part of their overall preparations. Arokia defeated Anas, who holds the national record, by 0.20 seconds, with a time of 21.24 seconds.
Jakarta Asian Games champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor of Punjab won the men’s shot put event with a throw of 19.49m. Sahib Singh of Delhi was second at 17.69m and Amandeep Singh of Punjab was third with a throw of 16.96m.
In the men’s long jump main focus was on national record holder Murali Sreeshankar of Kerala, but his best was 8.05m. His personal best is 8.20m while Olympic qualification is 8.22m. Uttar Pradesh’s Shekhar Singh was at 7.85m while Muhammed Anees of Kerala was third with a distance of 7.76m.
