Long jump ace Anju Bobby George's much-anticipated return to domestic competition, after nearly a 15-month gap, turned out to be something of an anti-climax.
She won the gold in the event, but there was none who could pose a serious challenge to her in the MetLife National Inter-state Senior Athletics Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Tuesday.
The world number six hurt her knee while warming up and that told on her performance. She could clear only 6.09 metres.
Noosheen Rajendran (Tamil Nadu) was second with a clearance of 5.85 metres and Kalpana Das (West Bengal) third with 5.63 metres.
"This is not a performance," said the Paris World Championship bronze medallist, who last took part in India in the national circuit meet in Delhi on April 15 last year.
"I hurt my knee during warm-up. It's paining. There is slight swelling in the right knee, which is troubling me."
Anju, whose best jump, of 6.83 metres, came at the Athens Olympics, had an average start to the 2005 season, with a fourth place finish of 6.42 metres at the Doha Super Grand Prix, before recording 6.35 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, where she finished sixth.
She skipped the Asian Grand Prix series last month, preferring to train in Bangalore.
"I am taking part in some of the events in Europe later this month," said Anju, who represented Tamil Nadu in the meet.
Next month she will vie for honours in the World Championship in Helsinki.
"I am going for a medal," she said. "We can't put a target in an event such as that (World Championship). We can only aim for the medal."
Meanwhile, the third day's proceedings at the championships were overshadowed by Anju's presence.
Tamil Nadu's Benadict Starli picked the gold in the men's high jump, clearing a height of 2.11 metres.
His state-mate K N Priya ran away with the gold in the women's 100 metres hurdles with a time of 13.72 seconds.
In the men's 110 metres hurdles, Punjab's Gurpreet Singh led the pack, clocking 14.37 seconds, while the men's 400 metres gold was claimed by Haryana's Satbir Singh, who was home in 46.49 seconds.
Results: all finals:
Men:
110 metres hurdles: 1. Gurpreet Singh (Pun) 14.37 seconds; 2. Krishna Mohan (AP) 14.43; 3. Prince Mathew (Ker) 14.56.
400 metres: 1. Satbir Singh (Har) 46.49 seconds; 2. Shankar Patlavath (AP) 46.79; 3. Anil Kumar Rohil (Del) 47.19.
Hammer throw: 1. Harpal Singh (Pun) 64.66 metres; 2. Madhu Kumar (Har) 62.54; 3. Pargat Singh (Pun) 59.64.
High jump: 1. Benadict Starli (TN) 2.11 metres; 2. Roshan K R (Ker) 2.08; 3. S Sreenath (Karna) 2.08.
20 km walk: 1. Gurdev Singh (Pun) one hour, thirty minutes, 40 seconds; 2. Jalan P S (Ker) 1:30:45.00; 3. Gurmit Singh (Pun) 1:32:06.00.
Women:
400 metres: 1. Geetha Satti (AP) 52.49 seconds; 2. Rajwinder Kaur Gill (Pun) 53.02; 3. Manjit Kaur (Pun) 53.92.
100 metres hurdles: 1. K N Priya (TN) 13.72 seconds; 2. Anuradha Biswal (Orissa) 13.84; 3. Simi Sebastian (Ker) 14.28.
