Mayookha Johny breaks Anju’s 8-year-old triple jump record

Patiala: Mayookha Johny today shattered Anju Bobby George’s eight-year-old women’s triple jump record with an impressive effort of 13.68m on the second day of National Interstate Senior Athletics Championship here. Mayookha leapt 13.68 metre which he achieved in her third jump as she bettered Anju’s 13.67m mark set in 2002 by just one centimeter, at the National Institute of Sports here. Right from the first round, Mayookha led the field with 13.32m and turned everyone’s attention towards her when she jumped 13.65m in the second try, before achieving the record in her third attempt. Punjab Police athlete Kulwinder Kaur won silver with an effort of 13.42m, while M A Prajusha bagged the bronze with 13.28m. It was a remarkable performance for Kerala athlete Mayookha considering that she returned to running this year after nearly two year lay-off due to an injury. She suffered an injury in 2008 and did not run the whole of last year. “After suffering injury in 2008 I had to skip running for the whole of 2009. I started jogging only in January this year and now I have broken the record of Anju. I am extremely happy,” she said after her triumph. “I am now looking ahead for the Commonwealth Games and I think if I can improve my performance and touch 14m I can win a medal in the CWG,” added the 21-year-old ONGC employee. Mayookha won a gold in long jump in the All Star Athletics Meet in New Delhi last week with a career-best 6.64m. Before that she had 6.49m jump in the Asian Grand Prix in Bangalore in June. But here she chose to participate in triple jump, having already achieved the qualification mark for Commonwealth Games in long jump. And today she achieved the qualification mark (13.6m) in triple jump as well. Asked about the Asian Games in China in November, Mayookha said long jump would be a better bet to win a medal in the Asiad. In the men’s 800m race, the partially wet tracks saw the fastest timing by an Indian on home soil as Uttarakhand’s Pankaj Dimri emerged winner. Dimri missed Sriram Singh’s 34-year-old national mark (1:45.77) by less than half a second as he returned a time of 1:46.26. Tamil Nadu’s Francis Sagayaraj came from behind to grab the silver in a noteworthy 1:46.77. Manjit Singh from Punjab got the bronze in 1:47.24. The women’s 400m race saw an interesting duel between Mandeep Kaur (Punjab) and Juana Murmu (Orissa). The Punjab girl, who represented India at the Beijing Olympic Games, clocked an impressive 52.13 secs with a strong finish to win the event. PTI