Pune: Middle-distance wonder Tai Bamhane missed out on a sure gold as she was forced to take the track without any warm-up as her event was rescheduled without sending out any communication leaving her coach to cry foul as the tribal girl hobbled to the finish line in bronze position.
The 17-year-old Tai was just sitting waiting for her event, but was stunned to hear announcement for Girls Under-17 1500m event. She was in big dilemma whether to take the start, but decided late to enter the competition.
“We were waiting as my event was to start after a while, but suddenly I heard the announcement. I had not done any warm-up so was sceptical to take the start, but on second thoughts gave it a try,” Tai said.
Maharashtra’s tribal wonder Bamhane, who clocked a personal best time of 4:25.66 in the Asian Area qualification leg of the Youth Olympic Games, was clearly not at her best and posted a pedestrian time of 4 minutes 43.38 minutes to settle for the bronze medal.
Tai tried to go past Uttarakhand’s Ankita and Haryana’s Pooja with a lap to go but did not have the energy to sustain her pace. Ankita won the gold medal in 4:42.04 and Pooja took silver in 4:41.07.
Durga compensates for Tai Asian U20 bronze medallist Durga Deore ran the 4-lap race to a golden finish and compensated for Tai’s missed chance. Durga Deore, who was spotted when just six years old and whose talent has been nurtured by Vijender Singh in Nashik, moved away from the past after a slow first 300m and had opened a very comfortable lead. Delhi’s bespectacled Ankita Chahal sneaked in with a hard drive over the last 200m and was only 15-hundredth of a second behind when she broke the beam.
“I was wondering why the Maharashtra contingent was screaming at me from the stands when I was on the home stretch. I didn’t realise that Ankita had made her way up and closed the gap dramatically,” Durga Deore, 19, said. Her coach beamed with pride in stating that Durga had got 92 per cent marks in her Board exams.
Ajeet Kumar wins boy’s gold
South Asian U20 silver medallist Ajeet Kumar Yadav of Gujarat provided the fireworks by winning the boys under-21 1500m at the end of the opening day in athletics competition in Khelo India Youth Games at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Mhalunge-Balewadi here tonight.
It was a start-to-finish effort. He was conservative and did just enough to keep ahead of the challengers. His time of 3:56.29 compared favourably with the 3:49.88, his personal best, clocked in the National Youth Athletics Championships in Ranchi in November last.
Results:
Boys:
Under-21:
1500m: 1. Ajeet Kumar Yadav (Guj) 3:56.29, 2. Ankit (Har) 3:56.87, 3. Sunil Dawar (MP) 3:57.19.
Long jump: 1. Rishabh Rishishwar (UP) 7.72m, 2. Nirmal Sabu (Ker) 7.59, 3. Akhil TV Viju (Ker) 7.58.
Shot put: 1. Sahib Singh (Del) 18.18m, 2. Satyam Chaudhary (UP) 16.54, 3. Abhijit Nair (Mah) 14.98.
Under-17:
1500m: 1. Saurabh Rawat (Mah) 4:22.14; 2. B Mathesh (TN) 4:22.22; 3. Ajay (Har) 4:23.56.
High jump: 1. Robin Deep Singh (Pun) 1.98m, 2. Dhairryashil Gayakwad (Mah) 1.92, 3. Abhar Datta (Mah) 1.88m.
Javelin throw: 1. Kunwar Ajai Raj Singh Rana (Pun) 75.40m, 2. Suraj Kumar (UP) 73.42m, 3. Sudama Yadav (Bih) 72.37m.
Girls:
Under-21:
1500m: 1. Durga Deore (Mah) 4:37.18, 2. Ankita Chahal (Del) 4:37.33, 3. Radha Chaudhary (Del) 4:41.07.
Discus: 1. Karuniya Muthuramalingam (TN) 46.60m, 2. Arpandeep Kaur (Pun) 45.96, 3. Seema (Har) 44.80.
Triple jump: 1. Sandra Babu (Ker) 13.13m, 2. Priyadarshini Suresh (TN) 12.71, 3. Khushbeen Waraich (Pun) 12.55m.
Under-17:
1500m: 1. Ankita (Utr) 4:42.04; 2. Pooja (Har) 4:41.07; 3. Tai Bamhane (Mah) 4:43.38.
