ATHLETICS | Youngsters Dipanshu and Deepika impress amid a slew of absentees

Dipanshu Sharma returned to profitable methods on the website of his greatest efficiency this 12 months, enhancing his private greatest to win the lads’s javelin throw on day one of many Indian Open athletics championships right here on Sunday. Junior National document holder Deepika improved her personal mark and set a brand new junior document with a 56.41m throw in ladies’s javelin.

The 19-year-old Dipanshu’s 76.03m throw bettered his earlier greatest — set on the earlier iteration of Indian Open on the identical venue in April this 12 months — by a metre. The end result additionally helped Dipanshu return to the Under-20 top-three on this planet for the 12 months. It was one of many few highlights of the day, as a number of distinguished names failed to show up.

Shivam Lokhare, the most recent entrant to the 80m membership, and Kishore Kumar Jena each didn’t take part though, curiously, Jena’s former coach Samarjeet Singh Malhi was among the many individuals.

More than 900 athletes had despatched of their entries, forcing the organisers to make the Indian Open a two-day occasion, however the variety of individuals who truly turned up was a lot much less.

The 100m had 14 races with Army’s Rohit Gorkha clocking 10.49 seconds to be the shock quickest whereas Uttarakhand’s Prakhar Sharma received the 400m in 47.24 seconds throughout 12 races.

The males’s 5000m, with 31 preliminary entries, noticed solely 11 runners full and 13, together with former champion Abhishek Pal and National Games gold medallist Sawan Barwal, not beginning. Anurag Yadav of Gujarat received in 14:33.61.

Among the ladies, Dhanalakshmi and M.V. Jilna — each former India sprinters and coming back from doping suspension — had been the one two to go underneath 12 seconds within the 100m throughout six races, Dhanalakshmi edging forward in 11.55 seconds.

Race B noticed solely three authorized finishes, with three disqualifications and Nithya Ramraj not beginning.

Himachal Pradesh’s Manisha Kumari bettered her private greatest by greater than a second to win the 400m in 53.81 seconds

The outcomes (winners solely): Men: 100m: Rohit Gorkha (Army, 10.49s), 400m: Prakhar Sharma (Utk, 47.24s), 1500m: Rahul (Del, 3:47.47), 5000m: Anurag Yadav (Guj, 14:33.61), High Jump: Sarvesh Kushare (Mah, 2.26m), Discus Throw: Kirpal Singh (ONGC, 54.65m), Javelin Throw: Dipanshu Sharma (Reliance, 76.03m).

Women: 100m: Dhanalakshmi (TN, 11.55s), 400m: Manisha Kumari (HP, 53.81s), 1500m: Lili Das (Utk, 4:17.48), High Jump: Khyati Mathur (UP, 1.76m), Discus Throw: Seema (JSW, 55.03m), Javelin Throw: Deepika (JSW, 56.41m).