National Open Athletics Championships 2022: Teenager Shaili Singh clinches gold medal in long jump

Uttar Pradesh’s Shaili Singh won the gold medal in the women’s long jump at the National Open Athletics Championships 2022 in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Shaili Singh had won the long jump silver medal in the 2021 world U20 championships. She missed the 2022 edition of the junior worlds due to a toe injury.

Shaili Singh’s first attempt in the final was 6.25m and the UP athlete was unable to improve upon that with her subsequent four jumps. However, with her sixth and final attempt, Shaili Singh leapt 6.41m to confirm her gold medal.

She would have won gold even with her first attempt as no one else surpassed 6.22m. Sruthilekshmi L and Nayana James, both from Kerala, won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, with identical jumps of 6.22m.

The silver went to Sruthilekshmi as she did not have a single foul in her six attempts while Nayana had two.

Meanwhile, national record holder Ram Baboo won the gold medal in the men’s 35km race walk event.

The 23-year-old athlete had set a new national record en route the gold medal at the 2022 National Games earlier this month. On Wednesday, he clocked 2:39:05, almost three minutes slower than his record. 

However, Ram Baboo comfortably emerged the victor ahead of Railways’ Eknath Turamb, who took silver. Chandan Singh of Services was the bronze medallist.

Archana Suseendran took the gold medal in the women’s 200m race, coming home in 23.43 seconds.

The 2019 South Asian Games champion had also won gold at the 2022 National Games, having beaten Hima Das. The latter could not compete in the 200m after sustaining an injury during the 100m event.

South Asian Games gold-medallist and Rio 2016 Olympian Srabani Nanda, who took the women’s 100m title earlier, won the silver medal in the 200m while Chandralekha Ananda won bronze.

Wednesday also marked the conclusion of the National Open Athletics Championships 2022 in Bengaluru.

National Open Athletics Championships 2022 results: Wednesday, October 19 

The results (finals)

Men’s 35km race walk: 1. Ram Baboo (Uttar Pradesh - 2:39:05), 2. Eknath Turamb (Railways - 2:41:58), 3. Chandan Singh (Services - 2:44:24)

Women’s 35km race walk: 1. Payal (Uttarakhand - 3:04:48), 2. Ramandeep Kaur (Railways - 3:10:45), 3. Manju Rani (Punjab - 3:17:02)

Men’s 10000m: 1. Murli Gavit (Gujarat - 29:50.11), 2. Sawan Barwal (Services - 29:52.15), 3. Mohan Saini (Services - 29:59.80)

Women’s 10000m: 1. Ankita (Railways - 34:39.05), 2. Pooja Harijan (Rajasthan - 34:48.58), 3. Richa Bhadauriya (Uttar Pradesh - 34:53.63)

Men’s hammer throw: 1. Nitesh Poonia (Rajasthan - 65.95m), 2. Harvendra Singh (Uttar Pradesh - 64.28m), 3. Niraj Kumar (Services - 62.99m)

Men’s triple jump: 1. Arun A B (Services - 16.37m), 2. Mohammad Salahuddin (Tamil Nadu - 16.34m), 3. Arpinder Singh (ONGC - 16.29m)

Men’s 200m: 1. Ragul Kumar G (Tamil Nadu - 20.87s), 2. Rahul Kadam (Maharashtra - 20.97s), 3. Abhin Devadiga (Karnataka - 21.05s)

Women’s 200m: 1. Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu - 23.43s), 2. Srabani Nanda (Odisha - 23.71s), 3. Chandralekha Ananda (Railways - 23.84s)

Men’s 400m hurdles: 1. Santhosh Kumar (Services - 49.57s), 2. Sathish K (Services - 50.85s), 3. Jabir Palliyalil (Services - 50.94s)

Women’s 400m hurdles: 1. R Vithya Ramraj (Railways - 56.97s), 2. Sinchal Kaveramma TR (Karnataka - 58.84s), 3. Veerpal Kaur (Punjab - 59.00s)

Women’s long jump: 1. Shaili Singh (Uttar Pradesh - 6.41m), 2. Sruthilekshmi L (Kerala - 6.22m), 3. Nayana James (Kerala - 6.22m)

Women’s hammer throw: 1. KM Rachna (Uttar Pradesh - 63.66m), 2. Sarita Singh (Railways - 59.96m), 3. Tanya Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh - 59.56m)

Men’s 4x400m relay: 1. Railways - 3:06.77, 2. Services - 3:07.30, 3. Karnataka - 3:08.07

Women’s 4x400m relay: 1. Railways - 3:36.72, 2. Haryana - 3:39.20, 3. Karnataka - 3:39.56

Women’s 3000m steeplechase: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Railways - 9:48.28), 2. Komal Chandrakant (Railways - 10:24.37), 3. Vaishnavi Sawant (Maharashtra - 10:41.22)

Men’s 3000m steeplechase: 1. Balkishan (Services - 8:51.42), 2. Prince Raj Mishra (Sikkim - 8:51.15), 3. Rohit Verma (Haryana - 8:52.97)