Not even rain could stop top notch athlete Sudha Singh from giving her best in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the 53rd National Inter-State Senior Athletic Championship on Thursday. The meek and frail Sudha, who hails from Uttar Pardesh, set a new record and became the first Indian to book a berth in the Moscow World Championship, to be held from August 10-18.
She clocked a whopping 9:45.60s, bettering her National Record by a little over 2 seconds. No other athlete came even close to her as she maintained a lead well over 45 seconds. Kiran Tiwari and Priyanka Patel, settled for the silver and bronze respectively. “I will better my record in the Asian Championships. There I will face tough competition, which will make me do even better,” an ecstatic Sudha said.
Another record breaking performance came in men’s 4x100m Relay. The boys from Kerala broke the previous meet record by 0.01s, which was set in 2009. Kerala maintained its supremacy in the Relay events by winning gold in the women’s section as well.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat’s Babubhai gave a solid performance in the men’s 20 km walk. He won in the absence of his main competitor, KT Irfan of Kerala, who opted out of the race. Babubhai clocked 1:28.07s in tough conditions to claim gold. “The conditions are really difficult over here, we have to deal with really hot climate as well as the humidity,” said Babubhai.
Kerala is leading with a staggering 130.5 points in the team championship. Tamil Nadu are lying second while Haryana are third.
Results: MEN: 4X100M Relay: 1. A John, Rengith KG, Shameer Mon, Rahul G.Pillai) NMR 40.49 secs (Old record: Kerala-Oct 2009-Madurai-40.50s), 2.TN (Balamurgan, Sathya, Manikandan, A Vijay Kumar 41.21s, 3.Punjab (Kulwant Singh, M Singh, G Singh, H Siingh) 42.23sec; 3000M Steeplechase: 1.Jaiveer (Har) 8:54.42sec, 2.N Kumar (Har) 8:56.00sec, 3.Karamvir (Rajas) 9:00.42sec; 20,000m Walk: 1.B Panucha (Guj) 1:28.07.20 secs, 2.S Siingh (Pun) 1:28.32.60 secs, 3.Ganapathy (TN) 1:30.08.10 secs; Pole Vault: 1. P Kumar (Har) 4.90m, 2.P Balakrishna (Karna) 4.85m, 3.Sonu Saini (Har) 4.75m; WOMEN: 3000M Steeplechase: 1.S Singh (UP) NR-9:45.60secs (Old NR-S Singh-Huelva, Spain-7-6-2012-9:47.70s), 2.K Tiwari (Har) 10:32.94s, 3.P Patel (UP) 10:45.32s.
