Asian Games gold medallist Abraham beaten in 400m hurdles

Asian Games gold medallist Joseph Abraham's hopes of qualifying for London Olympics were virtually dashed as he finished second in the men's 400m hurdles on the third day of the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Hyderabad on Monday.

Satinder Singh of Punjab won the race in his personal best timing of 40.99s while national record holder Abraham clocked 50.39s to finish second.

Having clocked 50.60secs in Sunday's semi-finals, Abraham, whose national record stands at 49.51sec, was aiming to touch the London Games 'B' standard of 49.80s.

Bur, when the race began at the G M C Balayogi Stadium, the Kerala athlete lagged behind defending champion Satinder.

He did try to catch-up with Satinder on the eighth hurdle but fatigue played its role as Abraham failed to maintain the tempo thereafter.

Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Durgesh Kumar Pal of Maharashtra was third in 50.80s.

There was a clean sweep by Kerala in the women's 400m hurdles with R Anu taking the gold in 60.34 secs. K P Bimin was another Kerala athlete who triumphed in men's pole vault by successfully defending his title by clearing 4.95m.

The long jump pit witnessed high drama as Karnataka's 21-year-old M Arshad (7.42m) won the event by just one cm from Asian Indoor and Asian junior bronze medallist K Prem Kumar of Tamil Nadu (7.41m).

Defending champion Amritpal Singh could not find his rhythm and finished fourth with 7.28m. Former national champion Maha Singh, with the same distance, took the bronze.

Rajasthan's Manju Bala clinched his second gold in women's hammer throw by sending the ball and chain to 58.27m while Delhi's Anil Singh won the men's javelin gold with an effort of 74.39m.

In women's 4x100m relay, Satti Geetha spearheaded Andhra Pradesh to victory while the men's gold went to Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in the morning session, Deepmala Devi claimed her fifth title in the women's 20 km walk. Surinder Singh got the men's title in this event.