Madhya Pradesh’s talented athletes Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar raised the bar to 5.45metres to set a national record in the men’s pole vault on the penultimate day of the 29th National Senior Athletics Federation Competition here in Ranchi.
Both the athletes bettered the previous national men’s pole vault record of 5.41m, but Dev Kumar Meena walked away with the gold medal while Kuldeep Kumar settled for silver (on countdown). The previous record of 5.41m was set recently by Kuldeep Kumar in Bhubaneswar. The gold and silver medallists have also achieved the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 5.25m. The meet record was 5.35m, set last year by Dev Kumar Meena.
Training partners and close friends, Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar’s next goal is to repeat their performance at the international level. “It was a good day for us, and we will continue to push each other to further raise the bar in future,” jubilant Dev Kumar Meena said after winning the gold on Sunday. If the spotlight was on sprinters on Saturday, the main attraction on Sunday was the field events.
At the long jump pit, Murali Sreeshankar won the gold medal with a jump of 8.08m, which was better than the CWG qualification mark of 8.05m.
Sarvesh Anil Kushare of Maharashtra dominated the men’s high jump. His gold-medal-winning performance of 2.28m was better than the CWG mark of 2.22m.
Kushare also equalled the meet record set by Tejaswin Shankar. He also raised the bar to 2.30m to improve the national record of 2.29m, but missed all three attempts. Aadarsh Ram, winner of the silver medal, also achieved the qualification mark of CWG (2.22m).
The men’s 110m hurdles were dominated by Tejas Ashok Shirse representing Reliance. His gold-winning time was 13.50 seconds. He improved his own meet record of 13.61 secs but missed out on winning a CWG berth. The qualification time was 13.39 secs.
Earlier in the morning session, Ravina, representing Haryana, won the gold medal in the women’s 10,000m race walk with a time of 44:29.66 seconds, which was better than the Commonwealth Games qualification time of 44:44.58 seconds.
Results
Men:
1500m (CWG Q time 3:30.82 secs): Rahul Baloda (Rajasthan) 3:40.06 secs, Sakir (Haryana) 3:40.83 secs, Ajay Kumar Saroj (Uttar Pradesh) 3:40.92 secs.
110m hurdles (CWG Q time 13.39 secs): Tejas Ashok Shirse (Reliance) 13.50 seconds (MR improves his own meet record of 13.61 secs), Krishik M (Reliance) 13.52 secs, Muhammed Lazan (Navy) 13.83 secs.
Pole vault (CWG Q mark 5.25m): Dev Kumar Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.45m (NR previous record 5.41 set by Kuldeep Kumar), Kuldeep Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) 5.45m, Reegan G (Tamil Nadu) 5.15m.
High jump (CWG Q mark 2.22m): Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.28m (MR equalled, Aadarsh Ram (Tamil Nadu) 2.22m, Sudeep (Karnataka) 2.12m.
Long jump (CWG Q mark 8.05m): M Sreeshankar (NCOE Trivandrum) 8.08m, S Lokesh (Reliance) 7.94m, Mohd Atta Sazid (Haryana) 7.90m.
Discus throw (CWG Q mark 64.56m): Dharamraj Yadav (Army) 55.20m, Bhartpreet Singh (Navy) 54.62m, Oinam Alson Singh (NCOE Patiala) 53.52m.
Women:
100m hurdles (CWG Q time 12.67 secs): Nandhini K (Tamil Nadu) 13.24 secs, Pragyan Prashanti Sahu (Odisha) 13.33 secs, Anjali C (JSW) 13.35 secs.
10,000m race walk (CWG Q time 44:44.58): Ravina (Haryana) 44:29.66 secs, Reshma Patel (All India Police) 44:57.94 secs, Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh) 45:23.92 secs.
Hammer throw (CWG Q mark 66.80m): Manpreet Kaur (Punjab) 59.08m, Kulvinder Kaur (Railways Sports) 57.76m, Divya Shandilya (Odisha) 56.41m.