Anju Bobby George failed to live up to her own expectations but was still good enough to win the women's long jump at the 46th National Senior Inter-State Athletics championships in Chennai on Thursday night.
Anju set a new meet mark of 6.53 metres on a day that saw two more meet records being obliterated at the floodlit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.
Anju started with 6.47 metres and leaped to 6.53 metres in her second attempt, which fetched her the gold medal.
After clearing 6.37 metres in the third, she fouled the rest of the three attempts.
Karnataka's G G Pramila (6.26 metres) and J J Shobha of Andhra Pradesh (6.12metrs) claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Incidentally, Anju had cleared 6.53 metres at the Busan Asian Games and 6.54 metres, the season's best so far, at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games earlier this year.
Anju said the conditions at the J N Stadium resulted in the below par performance.
"I wanted to do at least 6.60 metres but lot of undulations on the running area affected my acceleration and rhythm; besides there was heavy cross wind from the opposite direction," the Kerala woman said.
However, she expressed confidence of retaining her Asian Games title, but said she expects a tough fight from Kumiko Lkeda of Japan.
"I am still aiming for an Olympic medal too," she added.
The other two meet records were set in the women's hammer throw and 1500 metres.
National record holder Hardeep Kaur broke K Jobeshwari's mark of 58.36 metres, set in July 2000, with a new distance of 60.79 metres in the hammer throw.
Sinimol Paulose of Jharkhand set a new mark of 4 min 10.51 secs in 1500 metres, eclipsing Sunita Rani's record of 4:12.40, set in September 1999.
S Shanthi of Tamil Nadu (4:11.66) and O.P.Jaisha of Kerala (4:15.97) were second and third respectively.
In the men's shot put , Punjab's Navpreet Singh claimed the gold, heaving the iron ball to a distance of 18.93 metres.
Delhi's Kuldeep Mann (18.18m) and Satyendra K Singh of Uttar Pradesh (18.09m) collected the silver and bronze medals respectively in the event, where only six athletes competed.
Kerala's Hamsa won the gold in the 1500 metres for men. Hamsa returned a timing of 3 min 42.37 seconds followed by Sandeep of Haryana (3:50.86) and Ravinder of Delhi (3:53.64) in that order.
Results:
Men:
1500 metres: 1. C Hamsa (Ker) 3:42.37 secs, 2. Sandeep (Har) 3:50.86 secs, 3. Ravinder (Del) 3:53.64 secs.
10,000 metres: 1. Surendra Singh (Uttaran) 29:30.86 secs, 2. Santhosh Kumar Patel (U.P) 30:12.64 secs, 3.Sita Ram (Jhark) 30:27.97 secs.
Shot Put: 1. Navpreet Singh (Pun) 18.93 metres, 2. Kuldeep Mann (Del) 18.18 metres, 3. Satyendra K Singh (UP) 18.09 metres.
Women:
1500 metres: 1. Sinimol Paulose (Jhark) 4:10.51 secs NMR (Old: Sunita Rani 4:12.40), 2. S Shanthi (TN) 4:11.66 secs, 3. O P Jaisha (Ker) 4:15.97 secs.
10,000 metres: 1. Preeja Sreedharan (Ker) 34:30.77 secs, 2. Preethi L Rao (Karna) 35:41.77 secs, 3.Madhuri Gurnule (Maha) 37:15.10 secs.
Long Jump: 1. Anju B George (TN) 6.53 metres. NMR (Old: G G Pramila (Karna) 6.52m -Chennai 2000), 2. G G Pramila (Karna) 6.26m, 3. J J Shoba (AP) 6.12m.
Hammer Throw: 1. Hardeep Kaur (Pun) 60.79 metres NMR (Old: K Jobeshwari Devi 58.36m - Chennai 2000), 2. Archana Bara (Bih) 54.13m, 3. Phoolwati (Del) 52.51m.
