UAE GP: Animesh, relay team set new meet marks
Animesh clocked 20.45s to finish first and combined with Gurindervir, Manikanta and Amlan to win 4x100m relay with a timing of 38.76s
New Delhi: India’s Animesh Kujur set a meet record in 200m at the UAE Athletics Grand Prix, clocking 20.45s at the Dubai Police Stadium on Friday.
Another Indian runner, Amlan Borgohain, clocked 21.08s to finish 5th overall. Animesh has been in excellent form this season and broke the national record (20.40s) at the Federation Cup recently and this run will help him garner points from the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level meet.
Later, Animesh, Gurindervir Singh, Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain clocked 38.76s in 4x100 relay to finish on top and set a new meet record. Oman came second with a timing of 39.27s.
The Indian quartet recently broke the 15-year old national record with a timing of 38.69s at the Indian Open Relay meet in Chandigarh.
Mohammed Afsal set a new national mark in 800m with a time of 1:45.61s. The previous record was held by Asian Games medallist Jinson Johnson (1:45.65) in 2018. Afsal finished second overall with Kenyan Nicholas Kiplagat winning the race (1:45.38s)
In the men’s 100m, national record holder Gurindervir clocked 10.41s while Manikanta crossed the line in 10.52s. It has been a good domestic season for Indian sprinters pushing each other in domestic meets.
Gurindervir got the national record (10.20s) at the Indian GP competition bettering Manikanta’s mark of 10.23 achieved last year. Manikanta’s best this season is 10.22s which came in the same race. However, both were far off from Oman’s Ali Al Balooshi who topped in UAE GP with 10.19s. Sri Lankan Chamod Yodhasinghe was second (10.27s) and Bahrain’s Ali HAjji was third (10.30s). Gurindervir finish 8th overall and Manikanta 12th.
In the men’s 400m, India’s Mohamed Sinan came second (46.67s) with Suleiman Abdirahman of UAE taking first place (45.66s). In the triple jump, Sawant Poorva jumped 13.09m to come third.