BENGALURU: Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan returned to action in style as she won the gold in women's long jump at the Indian Grand Prix 3 with a leap of 6.52m at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old, with a personal best of 6.63m, started with a modest effort of 5.62m but soon got going as she leaped to 6.51m on her third attempt. Taiwan Open Champion Nayana James came up second best in the evening as she managed a best of 6.48m on her sixth and final attempt after beginning the action with two foul jumps. Assured of the gold, before her final jump, Sojan, who will fancy her chances to bag an unlikely berth for the Paris Games, improved her performance by another centimetre to celebrate her last start to the season in style.
As the Kerala stars bagged the gold and silver medals as expected, Andhra Pradesh's Bhavani Yadav Bhagavat took the bronze with a best leap of 6.27m.
Manikanta second, Sneha shines
In the men's 100m final (Race A), Tamil Nadu's Ragul Kumar G shocked national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar of Karnataka. Kumar crossed the line in 10.56s as Hoblidhar timed 10.64s to bag the silver. Abhinav C of Kerala came third in 10.67s. The women's 100m dash saw hosts' Sneha win the A race title in 11.41s. She was followed by TN's Abhinaya Rajarajan (11.6) and Sneha's teammate V Sudeeksha (11.75)
In women's 200m, Telangana's Nithya Gandhe took the top spot in 24.23 seconds even as Hima Das finished last with a disappointing effort of 25.09s. Abha Khatua continued her reign in women's shot put. She won with a day's best of 17.93m. Haryana Shiksha emerged a distant second at 15.38m. The much awaited women's 400m final saw Dandi Jyothika Sri of AP winning the gold in RAce A clocking 51.53s. Subha Venkatesan (TN, 52.34) and MR Poovamma (Kar, 52.62) finished second and third respectively.
Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Kumar Jena's pull out robbed the sheen out of the men's javelin throw. In the absence of Manu DP, Sachin Yadav emerged on top with a best of 82.69m as Rohit Yadav, returning from a long injury lay-off, settled for a best of 75.52m.
