Standard Chartered Open National Athletics  Championship 2004
Priyadarshini Park Ground-Mumbai
September 10-12,2004

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Bombay City
District Amateur
Athletic Association
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Mumbai, September 12: Chennai based keralaite athlete V. S. Surekha representing her employer Indian railways amended her meet and national record in the women pole vault with 3.55m (old: 3.51m) here on the concluding day of the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship which ended with 1 National and 1 meet record while Sahana Kumari equaled Bobby Aloysius meet record of 1.81m.
                 

Sports Minister of Govt. of India Shri Sunil Dutt declared the meet close while Suresh Kalmadi, President- AFI distribute the prizes to the winners. Before final prize distribution 1500 school kids from Ryan Group of Schools performed Welcome song in front Grace Pinto, Director of Ryan Gruop of schools and other dignitaries.
                   

 Overall Championship went to Indian Railways who is dominating Indian Athletics Scenario for last 15 years  while Services with no female lifted Men's title. Indian Railways also won women's team championship. Piyush Kumar and V S Surekha were declared the best male and female athletes of the championship respectively. Due to lack of entries both relays in the women section were cancelled.                      
Sunita Kumari (800, 1500) of Delhi and Jagananth Lakade (5000, 10000) of services added one more gold to their tally.

It was also good day for Maharashtra Athletes where Sushanth Bangera jumped to his personal best of 15.59m finishing on the second place. Amarjeet Singh won the men triple jump with 15.97 (+3.0). Former Open National Champion Sarita patil settled on the silver in the women high jump. While Vaishali Chatre (women -10000m) and Basuraj C D (men-3000msc)  won bronze medals. They were awarded with cash incentives.

Today' biggest upset was seen in the women 200m final where Manjeet Kaur  finished well ahead of National Record Holder Saraswati Saha signaling her entry in the short sprint events.
Click here to view the final results of the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship 2004.

(K. C. Ramu of Service won the Marathon event of the Open National held at TRIVENDRUM on Sept 11 with 2::21:50 while Jaybhay D B also from Serivces finished second with 2::23:1. B S. Lone took bronze position with 2::24:12)

Mumbai, September 11:B. L. Bharti of Karnataka The second day of the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship belonged to Karnataka’s B L Bharati, who set a new meet record in the grueling 3000m steeplechase for women at the Priyadarshini Park, here, on Saturday.
                   The 21-year-old Bharati, who came into the city only at 5.30 am in the morning after winning the All-India Universities 6km cross country title at Gulbarga, clocked 11.07.13 to set the new record.

Also sharing the spotlight, albeit on a smaller stage was Athens Olympian NeelamBharti crossing water jump in 3000m sc final Singh, who won the discus throw for women from a lopsided field with a throw of 57.21 mtrs, way below the meet record of 61.17 set by herself in September. The throw was also much below the mark of Seema Antil’s 64.84.
    Sunita Kumar of Railways bagged a creditable double, adding the 800m title to the 1500 m crown she won on the first day. Kumari held off a strong late surge from Punjab’s Tejinder Kaur to win in 2:13.05 minutes.

The fastest man of the meet, Piyush Kumar anchored Indian Railways to victory in the men’s 4x100m relay in 40.63 seconds.

joshon mathew after winning 800m finalAlso in action today were Olympians Soma Biswas and Satti Geetha, who ran away with the 100m hurdles and 400m titles, winning in 14.24 and 53.81 seconds respectively

Below par performances were the order of the second day too, withp.j.vinod (608) lifted by dhananjai rai (348) in men decathlon none of the winners coming anywhere close to the record books. Athletes from Indian Railways continued to dominate the proceedings winning titles in the men’s pole vault, men’s 20km walk, women’s 5000m run, women’s 100m hurdles, women’s 400m run, men’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 800m run and the men’s 4x100m relay for men. Click here for the results>>

 
Mumbai Sept 11,2004: Piyush Kumar (Indian Railways) maintained his supremacy over 100m dash in this season when he crossed the finish line in just 10.55s here at the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship in the final of the men's 100m run. As expected Piyush came out of blocks quickly accelerating over 30m thereafter it wasn't much difficult to maintain his lead over others. B .G. Nagraj was the surprise package when he took second position with 10.61s while Sandeep Sarkaria ended on third place with 10.74s. Host hope Ganesh Satpute finished disappointing 7th with 10.96s. 
             Earlier in the morning session Jagganath Lakade of services took gold in men 10000m run. Sudden rain prior to the opening ceremony was the big concern for the organiser but it ended in short period for whole day helping BCDAAA to put a great show to the Mumbaikars. Dr. A. F. Pinto, Chairman of Ryan Group of Schools inaugurated the championship. Click here to view the first day results>>>      

Also Click here to view the team championship postion >.>
Mumbai Sept 10,2004: Mumbai is set to host the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship despite active raining in Mumbai. More than 600 athletes from 24 various team arrived today in Mumbai. Although K M Beenamol could not make it to the championship, we can expect excited race from S. Geetha and Rajwinder Kaur who will be taking part in 400m women heats today. There are 11 final scheduled on the first day including 100m sprint final for men and women. DD Sports will cover the championship live from 2:00pm. Click here to view the morning session start list>>>
Neel Chatterjee and Adille Sumariwalla at the Press Conf at CCI on Sep 3,2004Mumbai Sept 4, 2004: 
           The stage is set for one of the biggest athletics extravaganzas to visit the shores of Mumbai in recent times. Six hundred of the country’s top athletes, including 12 from the squad that participated in the Athens Olympics will converge at the Priyadarshini Park for the Standard Chartered Open National Athletics Championship 2004, hosted by the Bombay City District Amateur Athletic Association, under the aegis of the Athletics Federation of India, from September 10 to 12>>>

Did you know?

  • The Open National Athletic Championship was first held in 1963 at New Delhi.

  • The above championship used to conduct once in a year, but on some special occasions a second meet was organised within a single calendar year. Two open national meets were conducted in 1967 (Sangrur and Hyderabad), 1969 (Bangalore and Ajmer), 1972 (Madras and Lucknow), 1981 (New Delhi and Lucknow), 1996 (New Delhi and Calcutta).

  • Women’s events were introduced in the Open meet only in 1965 when Pune (Maharashtra) hosted the third edition of the above championship.

  • Mumbai (Bombay) hosted the Open National Athletic Championships on two previous occasions in 1984 and 1992.

  • Two national marks bettered during the 1984 meet by Ajmer Singh in Discus Throw (56.92m) and Gurtej Singh in Javelin Throw (76.74m).

  • Satbir Singh set the lone national record in 1992 at Priyadarshini Park in a modified model of javelin, with a distance of 73.62 mtrs.

  • Mr. Adille Sumariwala, the organising secretary of this year’s Standard Chartered Open National Athletic Championships, has won the 100m sprint title when Mumbai hosted the Open for the first time in 1984. It was his third title in the Open nationals as he had earlier won the event in 1980 (Ajmer) and 1981 (New Delhi). Adil went on to win his fourth title in 1985 at Trivandrum.

  • Three other sprinters who had won four open national sprint titles were—
    A.P. Ramaswamy (19691, 19692, 19721 and 19722)

    R. Gnanasekaran (1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979)

    Anand Shetty (1982, 1983, 1987 and 1989)

  • The open nationals are the best among the national athletic meets held in India with the participation of sports promotion boards from Railways, Services, Police, Heavy Engineering, Steel Plants, LIC, FCI, etc.

  • Several athletes from Maharashtra represented and won medals for their respective units. Incidentally, Adil represented the Heavy Engg Sports Board in all the four occasions. Thrower Bhaktawar Khambatta (Railways) and long distance runner Madhuri Gurnule (LIC) were two outstanding athletes from Maharashtra represented their establishments in the open nationals.

  • Interestingly some of the state’s athletes choose to represent other states wherein they were working. For example, Mr. Ramesh B. Tawade represented Bihar when he won the 100m in 1967 at Sangrur.

  • As much as 13 athletes
    (8 men and 5 women) had done the "Maharashtra" colours while winning their open national titles in its 41 years history.
    MEN:

    1) Dinshaw Irani (New Delhi 1963) Shot Put and Discus Throw
    2) Bruce Haymen (Delhi 1964) Shot Put
    3) Sanjeeva Puttar (Hyderabad 1967) Decathlon
    4) D. Jayaseelan (Madurai 1974) 400m Hurdles
    5) Leslie Louis (Chandigargh 1977) 200m 
    6) Gopal Kidyoor (Jalandhar 1978) Javelin
    7) Canute Magalhaes (Kanpur 1988) 100m 
    8) Sachin Navale (Calcutta 2000) 100m

    WOMEN:
    1) Chitra Kalyanpurkar (Ajmer 1966) Long Jump
    2) Zenia Ayrton (Kanpur 1988) 100m Run
    (Bombay 1992) 100m & 200m
    (Bangalore 1993) 100m Run
    3) L. Leelamma (Bombay 1992) 10,000m Run
    4) Vijay Sonawane (Gandhinagar 1997) 10,000m Run
    5) Sarita Patil (New Delhi 2002) High Jump 

    Facts Provided by:
    Ram. Murali Krishnan