BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 27,
Services’ Sarvesh Kushare gave a superb performance to rewrite the meet record with a jump of 2.24m and bag his maiden high jump gold at the elite level in the National Open athletics championships .
Even as better known names such as Siddharth Yadav and B. Chetan struggled to find their rhythm on a humid day, the 22-year-old armyman, who has been among the fringe jumpers so far, bettered the meet record of 2.23m set by V.S. Yadav last year in his very first attempt. The Army havaldar tried in vain to equal Tejaswin Shankar’s National record of 2.29m.
“I had trained well for the inter-services meet in Bangalore and the National Open meet. I did 2.22m in Bengaluru and it set the right momentum for me. I was sure of getting past the meet record here,” said Kushare, coached by Vijender Ola at the RT Centre in Hyderabad.
Another lesser-known athlete, Anjali Devi of Haryana, created a new meet record in the women’s 400m. The 20-year-old clocked 51.79 to go past K.M. Beenamol’s 16-year-old mark of 51.90 as she triumphed by a good margin.
Winning return
J. Surendhar was delighted to corner glory as he achieved his personal best of 13.89 to claim the 110m hurdles title after a long lay-off due to an ankle injury. The strapping Chennai-based hurdler, who got a good lead, remained in front for most part of the race.
“I was out of action for one-and-a-half years. I was looking forward to compete with Siddhant Thingalya but it was not to be. His presence would have encouraged me,” said the 26-year-old, whose previous best was 13.96.
Asian Games medallist V. Neena’s 6.37m, less than her bronze-winning effort of 6.51m in Jakarta, was good enough for a gold in long jump.
P.U. Chitra, who had secured the Asiad bronze with a timing of 4:12.56, did 4:24.35 to win the women’s 1500m.
