Tamil Nadu pole vaulters share gold

CHENNAI: The National Inter-State Athletics in Chennai is the final qualifier event for the World Championships in Tokyo next month. But on the first day at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, none of the athletes could book their berths.However, in an unusual turn of events on Wednesday, pole vaulters G Reegan and M Gowtham, both from Tamil Nadu, shared gold. Both athletes cleared the 5.20m mark to set a new meet record, which was in the name of another TN athlete Siva Subramani. While Gowtham attempted to clear 5.25m, Reegan tried to breach 5.30m, but neither could clear their respective heights and as a result, they agreed to share the top spot.

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Meanwhile, Kamal Loganathan (5m), also from TN, clinched bronze.

It is to be noted that TN had already registered three athletes in pole vault, which is the maximum allowed. However, as the state association holds the right to grant a wildcard, an entry was given to Reegan, since he had not competed in the state meet. The decision to hand Reegan a wildcard has paid rich dividends.“I wanted to execute what I had practised during the training and did not have any expectations. I felt like I did not give my best because I made a mistake on the last jump and believe that I have the capacity to go further,” Reegan said.

Reegan shifted to the Reliance High Performance Centre in Odisha three months ago and is training under coach Milber Russell, who has trained several pole vaulters from TN. Milber expressed great joy over Reegan’s impressive progress in a short span of time under his guidance.“Our target was to cross 5.40m. In the last few months, he changed his approach on the runway, which is very important and there is still 20 to 30 per cent of the work left.

Our next target is the Asian Games and I am hopeful to see him cross the qualification mark,” Milber said.Interestingly, Milber was coached by Manickaraj, who now trains Gowtham. “He is my godfather and one of the best pole vault coaches,” Milber added.Tamil Arasu, Dhanalakshmi clinch 100m gold medalsLater in the day, TN athletes continued to impress. In men’s 100m, Tamil Arasu breached the meet record, clocking 10.22 seconds to bag the top spot.

He was 0.4s short of equalling the national record, which is in the name of Animesh Kujur.“My aim was to break the national record, but I am satisfied with the meet record,” Tamil Arasu said.Meanwhile, Dhanalakshmi Sekar (10.36m), who came back from a three-year doping ban last month, finished first ahead in women’s 100m ahead of favourites like TN’s Abinaya Rajarajan (11.58s) and Karnataka’s SS Sneha (11.61s).