THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Be grateful to Bobby Aloysius and the Kerala Sports Council. For, they have executed a commendable task of turning high jump, an event often treated as a sidekick, into a sporting carnival spiced up with music and ‘masti. The prime edition of the three-day High Jump Carnival - a brainchild of Olympian Bobby Aloysius, concluded on a high note, as the athletes lined up for a competition here on Monday. Bobby had earlier told Express, almost a month before, that her intention was to create zeal among upcoming athletes towards high jump, which could be materialised only by popularising the event. Bobby stuck to her words and got due assistance from Padmini Thomas, the president of Kerala Sports Council, to roll out a mega event which had all the sporting flavour and festive mood. The first two days of the carnival were held at LNCPE, Kariavattom, where the athletes received training and guidance from Ukrainian coach Nikitin Evgen, who was roped in recently to rekindle the Olympic hopes of the high jumpers. Former high jump national champion and SAI coach Nallathambi Annavi also took the pain to guide the young talents. But the mainstay of the carnival was the jumping competition. A plethora of applicants were there to take part in the event, but due to time constraints only, six male and female athletes were allowed to hit the track. Sahana Kumari, the lean fair athlete from Karnataka and the current national champion, proved her mettle as she cleared a height of 1.71 m to finish first. The national runner- up Mallika Mandal of Bihar and Steny Michael of Kannur cleared the same height of 1.68 m. But on the basis of who cleared that height first, Mallika was awarded the second prize. In the men’s event, all eyes were set on Nikhil Chittarasu, the current national champ and an Olympic probable. The class-apart athlete revealed how worthy is he for the title of the national champion as he sailed over the cross bar with ease. With his elegant Fosbury Flop coming in handy, the Tamilian athlete successfully cleared the 2.15-m mark in his second attempt and raised expectations that he would improve his personal best of 2.16 m. But his three attempts went in vain as he tried to clear 2.20-m mark. Akhil T M of Calicut SAI finished second. The winners were awarded a prize money of ` 10,000 while the runners-up were awarded ` 5,000. The third prize winners were awarded with ` 3,000.
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