Paramjit eclipses Milkha8217;s 38-year-old mark

CALCUTTA, Nov 4: Even as Paramjit Singh of Police hogged the limelight with a scintillating run in the 400 metres for men at the Open nation...

CALCUTTA, Nov 4: Even as Paramjit Singh of Police hogged the limelight with a scintillating run in the 400 metres for men at the Open nationals here today, 25-year-old Bahadur Singh, also of Police, raised visions of Asian Games medal with a national mark in men8217;s shot put.

Shakti Singh8217;s latest national record of 19.38 metres in this event, created at the Mumbai Circuit Meet, did not last even a fortnight as Bahadur Singh dwarfed that with a throw of 19.59 metres. Shakti Singh too put all his might behind the iron ball with a throw of 19.47 metres, his best so far. The healthy competition among these two brought out the best in them.

Apart these two national records, another one was created in the 5000 metres for women. Sunita Rani of Railways completed the distance in 16:09.68 seconds to improve her national mark of 16:21.59, created in Sicily in 1997. However, her timing was way below the Amateur Athletics Federation of India8217;s target of 15:55.10 seconds.

Lekha Thomas of LIC equalled her triple jumpnational record of 13.26 metres. However, that was also below the AAFI target of 13.50 metres.

The jubilations of the national records were somewhat dampened by the existing controversy in the 100 metres for men. The results had been withheld yesterday after Food corporation of India and Railways had protested over a false start.

After watching the video tapes today and with the starter admitting that he might have made a mistake yesterday, a re-run was ordered at 4pm today. More drama was in store when, apart from FCI8217;s Amit Khanna and Railways8217; Anand Menezes, none of the sprinters turned up. Later, LIC8217;s R.Kishan, who had finished third in the earlier race, too took his position. The Services8217; team has lodged a counter-protest against the decision to re-run the race as their sprinter Anil Kumar had won yesterday. They have also informed in writing that Anil Kumar will not compete.

Lalit Bhanot, the AAFI secretary general said that as the decision for the re-run was taken very late, most of thesprinters might not be aware of it. They will now be informed in writing and the race will be held tomorrow.

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Sanjay Rai of Railways created a new meet record in the long jump for men clearing a distance of 7.87 metres. Bobby Aloysius of Police too rewrote the meet record in the high jump for women with a jump of 1.81 metres.

Results

Men8217;s: 400m: 1. Paramjit Singh Pol 45.70s NMR Previous: 45.73 by Milkha Singh in 1960; 2. Jata Shankar Pol 46.40s; 3. Rama Chandran TN 46.63s. 5000m: 1. Gulab Chand Rlys 14:20.33s; 2. Bahadur Prasad Rlys 14:20.41s; 3. N. Gojen Singh Pol 14:33.04s. 110m hurdles: 1. PT Yesudas Rlys 14.44s; 2 Jagjit Singh Pol 14.54s; 3. Harish Kushalappa Kar 14.64s. Long jump: 1. Sanjay Rai Rlys 7.87m; 2. Amit Kumar Saha Rlys 7.69m; 3. VS Vinod Pol 7.30m. Shot put: 1. Bahadur Singh Pol 19.59m Previous: 1938 by Shakti Singh in 1998; 2. Shakti Singh Rlys 19.47m; 3. Jaiveer Singh Ser 17.73m.

Women8217;s: 400m: 1. JyotirmoySikdar Rlys 52.69s; 2. Rosa Kutty Rlys 52.86s; 3. KM Beenamol AAFI 53.74s. 5000m: 1. Sunita Rani Rlys 16:09.68s; 2 Pushpa Devi Pol 17:26.74s; 3. Madhuri Gurmule Mah 17:30.40s. 100m hurdles: 1. Debi Bose Rlys 13.97s; 2. Anuradha Biswal Ori 14.13s; 3. Poonam Beliappa Kar 14.40s. High jump: 1. Bobby Aloysius TN 1.81m; 2. Sukhdeep Kaur Pol 1.65m; 3. Jayanthi TN 1.65m. Triple jump: 1. Lekha Thomas LIC 13.26m; 2. Amey Philip TN 12.93m; 3. Anusuya Roy TN 12.78m. Javelin: 1. Gurmeet Kaur LIC 54.98m; 2. Hemlata Rlys 45.38m; 3. Annnamma M.P.Pol 43.30. 10km walk: 1. Pramjit Kaur Rlys 52:45.5s; 2. Sulochana Banik Rlys 56:37.2s; 3. Anju Kumari Sharma WB 57:30.6.