Angel soaring to new heights

Angel P. Devasia took to sports late, but she is more than making up for that with consistent results.

The 23yearold highjumper was adjudged the best female athlete at the 50th Calicut University intercollegiate athletics championship in Tenhipalam, Kerala. She had broken the 3■yearold record of Bobby Aloysius.

“I was happy that I could break the record of as fine an athlete as Bobby,” Angel said. “I hadn’t known that the record had belonged to her, though.”

Angel, representing Christ College, Irinjalakuda, erased the record comfortably enough, with a jump of 1.76m. Bobby’s record had stood at 1.6■m.

But this wasn’t Angel’s best. She had cleared a height of 1.■3m at the state senior championship at Thiruvananthapuram five months ago. Shortly after that meet, she had won the gold at the National Interstate Championships with a jump of 1.7■m.

“Here I wasn’t feeling well, as I am still recovering from an ankle injury, which has been troubling me for a year now,” said Angel, who recently moved to the LNCPE, Thiruvananthpauram, for training.

Angel wants to get better. “I want to represent India at international meets,” she said.

P. K. AJITH KUMAR