The faux-hawk hairstyle did betray a hint of frivolity about him,yet Siddhant T,behind those thick-rimmed pair of specs,could've easily passed off as another studious,engineering-college aspirant. But that was before the race,110m or 13.81s later,as he pumped his fist in the air,the hurdler looked every bit of a Commonwealth Games medal prospect,having shattered the national record by a whopping 0.15 seconds. The Maharashtra athlete was quick of the blocks and smoothly went over the hurdles. Having nosed ahead of others halfway through the race,Sidhhant then broke free and finished the race three paces ahead of P Muthusamy (14.46),relegating in the process Krishan Mohan K's record of 13.96 to history. It is an awesome feeling. I performed better than what I had expected, he said. Siddhant has been consistently bettering his timings this year. He participated in the Junior Asian Championships held in Hanoi and broke the meet record. Thereafter,he went to Canada to participate in the Junior World Championships. He said his performance in Hanoi prepared him to hunt for the national record. Since it was the final trial for the CWG,I wanted to do it by breaking the record. I am glad to be a member of the Indian contingent. I think I can improve further. Athletics,however,was never his first choice. Siddhant wanted to be a footballer and it was on his coach's inistence,after noticing his shot bursts of speed,that he opted for the track. My coach told me to stick with hurdles,saying that my leg strength was good and I would do well, he said. Despite an impressive timing,he pointed out,the Commonwealth Games is going to be a tough proposition. I have been working very hard in Mumbai and now I will go to Pune for my training because there I can train on synthetic track. But I know the expectations from me have increased now. The Australians do it less than 13.30 seconds,so I will have to increase my speed, he said. Meanwhile,in the women's 100m hurdles,G Gayathry bagged the gold medal with a timing of 13.71s. It was way off her personal best of 13.59 seconds and she blamed a back problem for the below-par performance. Results: Mens 20 km walk: 1 K Somendro Singh 1:31:54,2 Mani Ram Patel 1:32:00,3 Ashok Kumar Patel 1:36:12; Men Pole Vault:1 Gajan Upadhyay 4.96m,2 Devender 4.70m,3 Bimin K.P 4.70m; Women Javelin: 1 S Saraswathy 50.29m,2 Suman Devi 49.23m,3 Sanjo Devi 48.37m; Women High Jump: 1 Kavya Muthanna 1.80m,2 Mallika Mondal 1.78m,3 Sahana Kumari 1.76m; Men 110 m Hurdles: 1 Siddhanth T 13:81,2 P Muthusamy 14:46,3 Amandeep Singh 14:46; Women 100m Hurdles: 1 G. Gayathri 13:71,2 Anchu M.M 14:13,3 Anuradha Biswal 14:33; Men Long Jump: 1 Maha Singh 7.74m,2 B. Azarudeen 7.64m,3 B. Baskar 7.59m; Women 4 x 100m relay: 1 Andhra Pradesh 46:80,2 Kerala 47:35,3 Orissa 49:57; Men 5000m: 1 Sandeep 3:43:39,2 Hamza Chatholi 3:45:10,3 Pritam Bind 3:45:79.
