Karthik saves best for last to clinch triple jump gold

THE rain-hit men’s triple jump final saw an unlikely winner in Karthik Unnikrishnan of Kerala. His 16.44m leap earned him gold in the evening session on Day 3 of the 64th Senior National Interstate Athletics Championship in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday.

- CHANDRA PRABHU @Chennai

The crowd which had gathered near the jump pits had not expected Karthik to pull off a surprise as he eclipsed both Abdulla Aboobacker and Praveen Chithravel in the final.

Aboobacker finished second with an effort of 16.37m while Chithravel took home bronze with an uncharacteristic 16.35m leap. As the pits got affected due to heavy rain, jumpers found it difficult to gain grip and to land on the damp sand. “Winning gold here was not the expectation, but I wanted to get a personal best leap. But, happy to win gold,” Karthik told this daily.