Indian GP: Ancy Sojan wins long jump gold on comeback

Bengaluru: Star long jumper Ancy Sojan clinched the gold medal in women's section with a leap of 6.52 metre at the Indian Grand Prix here on Wednesday.

The Asian Games silver medallist thus made a successful return to competition after a seven-month absence due to injury.

The 23-year-old Kerala athlete, however, could not touch Olympic qualification mark of 6.86m and was also well short of her personal best of 6.63m.

In fact, none of the participants managed to breach the Olympic qualification mark at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

Nevertheless, comeback from an ankle niggle and a fine effort in a high-intensity environment will give Ancy a lot of confidence.

The national state championship, scheduled for at Panchkula from June 27 to 30, is the last qualification event for the athletes ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Kerala's Nayana James finished second with a jump of 6.48m while Andhra Pradesh's Bhavani Yadav came third with a distance of 6.27m.

In the women's 400m, Andhra Pradesh's Dandi Jyothika took the gold clocking 51.53 seconds. The second place went to Shubha Venkatesan of Tamil Nadu with timing of 52.34 and Karnataka's M R Poovamma was third with 52.62 seconds.

In the men's 100m, Tamil Nadu sprinter Ragul Kumar was impressive while touching the tape at 10.56 seconds. Karnataka's Manikanta Hoblidhar came a close second at 10.64 seconds. Kerala's C Abhinav took the bronze with a time of 10.67 seconds.

In the corresponding women's event, Karnataka sprinters took the first and third spots. SS Sneha grabbed the gold in 11.41 seconds while state-mate V Sudheeska complete the race at 11.75 seconds for bronze. The silver went to Abhinaya Rajarajan at 11.60 seconds.

Premier javelin thrower Kishore Jena did not turn up as the remaining two participants from Uttar Pradesh Sachin Yadav (82.69) and Rohit Yadav (75.52) took home the honours.