Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) broke the National record for women’s Pole Vault for the second time in 15 days when she cleared 4.21m to win gold on the opening day of the 61st AFI National Open Athletics Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here today.
With her confidence soaring after claiming the National record at the National Games in IIT Gandhinagar on October 1, the Tamil Nadu vaulter gave herself another early birthday present today. She will look back at this month with a lot of fondness when she turns 25 a fortnight later.
Railways’ Ravina found redemption after some disappointing performances after starting the year by being part of the Indian team which became the first to win a medal at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Muscat. She won the women’s 20km Race Walk today with a new meet record time to boot.
With Amlan Borgohain staying away, Delhi’s 19-year-old Shivam Vashnav ensured that some of the spotlight would remain on the 100m sprints. When he clocked 10.74 seconds in the first round,there was no indication of what was to follow. He blazed the track to win his semifinal in 10.47 seconds and be the fastest qualifier for the final.
Himashree Roy (West Bengal) and Srabani Nanda were the fastest qualifiers for the final, clocking 11.52 seconds and 11.53 seconds respectively. Though Jyothi Yarraji (Andhra Pradesh) did not finish her 100m first round, Hima Das (Assam) battled through two rounds (11.74 and 11.78) to remain in the mix.
Services’ Mijo Chacko Kurian and Angrej Singh set up an engrossing men’s 400m final along with Railways’ Ayush Dabas and Rajesh Ramesh. The women’s quarter-mile final will feature Subha Venkatesan (Tamil Nadu) and R Vithya Ramran as the fastest qualifiers. With six runners qualifying with sub-54 second times, the final can be a very competitive race.
The results (finals):
Men
20km Race Walk: 1. Suraj Panwar (Uttarakhand) 1:25:23.00; 2. Akshdeep Singh (Punjab) 1:25:26.00; 3. Paramjeet Singh Bisht (Services) 125:27.00.
Women
Pole Vault: 1. Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) (New National and Meet records. Old NR: 4.20, Rosy Meena Paulraj, Gandhinagar, 2022; Old MR: 4.15, VS Surekha, New Delhi, 2014); 2. Pavithra Venkatesh (Railways) and Baranica Elangovan (Railways) 4.00.
Discus Throw: 1. Paramjot Kaur (Railways) 50.81m; 2. Nidhi Rani (Railways) 50.29; 3. Neetika Verma (Uttar Pradesh) 49.70.
20km Race Walk: 1. Ravina (Railways) 1:34:55.00 (New Meet Records. Old: 1:38:30.00, Bhawna Jat, Ranchi, 2019); 2. Vandana (Karnataka) 1:37:19.00; 3. Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh) 1:37:49.00.
