NEW DELHI, FEB 28,
Dharun Ayyasamy made it two-in-two, winning the 400m hurdles in the second leg of the Indian Grand Prix here on Wednesday and also securing qualification for the Asian Championships in the process.
Ayyasamy clocked 49.94s — the qualifying time was 50s — to finish ahead of Tamil Nadu statemates Santhosh Kumar and M. Ramachandran, improving on his 50.05 performance in Patiala four days back.
Also achieving the mark was Dutee Chand in the 200m, clocking exactly 23.30s, the qualifying timing set by the AFI.
Ajay Kumar won the 1500m, finishing in 3:46.10 — falling short of the qualifying mark by one-tenth of a second. Interestingly, Ajay’s name was not in the initial starting list for the event.
Also winning was Delhi’s Nisar Ahmed, in the 200m, his first outing since being disqualified in the age-fiasco at the National Youth Athletics meet in Raipur recently. Nisar is also a winner of the Khelo India School Games.
The AFI, while claiming that he was clear to participate in senior events, has also admitted it would be meeting to decide on the quantum of punishment for those found guilty even though the National Sports Code 2011 has clear provision for a two-year ban.
