Prameela sets National record

CHENNAI, July 2: GG Prameela of Southern Railway created a new National record in heptathlon, while PT Usha achieved the qualifying mark in the women8217;s 400 m as five new meet records were established on the second day in the Federation Cup Athletics Championship here today.

Prameela also achieved the qualifying mark for the Asian Track and Field meet at Japan, by logging 5541 points in the gruelling seven-discipline event. She eclipsed the existing record of 5361 points set by BN Sumavathi set in December last at Bangalore.

Usha8217;s time of 52.43 was good enough to win the gold, pushing favourite Jyotirmoy Sikdar of Eastern Railway to second and Rosakutty Southern Railway to third positions. In the men8217;s 20 km walk, Gurdev Singh covered the distance with a record timing of 1 hr, 35.02 mins. Harish Kushalappa of Karnataka led from start to finish on his way to a record shattering effort of 14.60 secs in the men8217;s 110 m hurdles.