Second National mark for Sunita Rani

Bangalore, Aug 9: Long distance runner Sunita Rani set her second National mark in three days while Anju Markose leapt to glory in triple...

Bangalore, Aug 9: Long distance runner Sunita Rani set her second National mark in three days while Anju Markose leapt to glory in triple jump as two National records and seven meet records were bettered on the concluding day of the fifth Federation Cup Athletic Championships today.

Sunita Rani (Punjab) and Anju Markose (TN) set National records in the 5000m and triple jump respectively, while meet records were bettered in men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, men’s and women’s 100m, women’s 10km walk, decathalon and men’s javelin throw.

P Anil Kumar (ASCB) and Rachita Mistry (Mah) emerged the fastest man and woman of the meet respectively.

Sunita Rani, the 19-year-old Patiala girl, who had broken the 1500m National record on the opening day on Saturday, timed 15:14.4 today to better her own mark of 15:54.43, set in the Bangkok Asian Games in December.

Anju Markose cleared 13.27m in the triple jump to erase the previous record of 13.26m set by Lekha Thomas in 1998. Markose, who has participated in sevenmeets in 30 days, looked tired and attempted only two jumps in which she set the record. She had won the long jump gold on the opening day. Anil Kumar clocked 10.3s in 100m, bettering the old meet record of 10.43s set by Rajeev Balakrishnan in 1998.

In the women’s 100m, Rachita Mistry timed 11.5s to better P T Usha’s 1998 meet record of 10.51s.

Paramjit Singh of Punjab Police erased the old mark of 77.50m held by Daljit Singh by hurling the javelin to 78.79m.