Youth Olympic Athletics: Ranjitha Raja finishes fifth in 1000m “B” Final

Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports

Bishan Stadium, Monday, August 23, 2010 — Ranjitha Raja clocked 3 minutes 3.90 seconds to finish fifth out of 13 girls who started the 1000m “B” Final. The winner of the final was Manal El Behraoui of Morocco in 2:53.87.

In the “A” Final, Tizita Ashame of Ethiopia bagged the gold in a personal best time of 2:43.24. Andrina Schlaepfer of Switzerland and Damaris Muthee of Kenya rounded up the podium in times of 2:43.84 and 2:45.42 respectively.

Ranjitha’s time was over one second off her personal best of 3:02.17 but was an improvement from the 3:07.66 she clocked in the heats last Wednesday.

The Juying Secondary student, who will turn 16 on December 27, commented after the race: “I feel this race is better than the heats. The heats wasn’t really my race. I felt I was going fast but I wasn’t.”

“My coach (Ganesan Elangovan) told me to go between 2:23 and 2:25 for the first 800m and when I saw it was 2:24, I had a feeling that I would do well,” Ranjitha added.

When asked what these Youth Olympics meant to her, Ranjitha said: “This is a stepping stone. I want to go to the (senior) Olympics in the future.”

At hand to support her at the stadium were family and friends. But little did she know that she would be doing more than just receive their support, providing some inspiration for those watching.

12-year-old Thiranraj, Ranjitha’s younger brother, chirped: “I want to be just like her (Ranjitha).”

Girls’ 1000m “A” Final Results
Girls’ 1000m “B” Final Results