Double delight as Dev Meena, Kuldeep Kumar rewrite pole vault record in Federation Cup

RANCHI: After a historic day which saw three national records fall on Saturday, it was the pole-vaulting duo of Dev Meena and Kuldeep Kumar who stole the show and wrote their names into the record books on Sunday as they became joint holders of the national record.In a rare feat, both cleared 5.45m on the third day of the National Senior Athletics Federation Competition at Birsa Munda Stadium, Morabadi, here. Kuldeep came into the competition with the national record of 5.41m, set earlier this month. However, Dev Meena bettered it when he cleared 5.42m.

The record, though, lasted only a few minutes as Kuldeep went over 5.45m then. But it wasn’t enough to secure the title, as his good friend and training partner Dev equalled the mark soon after and finished on top of the podium on countback.Later, both athletes, who train under coach Ghanshyam Yadav at Bhopal’s DSYW Academy, attempted 5.50m but fell short. Dev, in fact, sounded a bit disappointed, believing they could have gone even higher, but admitted he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the conditions.“We had come here on the 20th and started training, but the surface felt a bit different, slightly sticky. So, we were cautious about injuries. Even then, things went well,” said Meena.

The gold and silver medallists, meanwhile, both achieved the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 5.25m and also bettered the meet record of 5.35m, set last year by Meena.Besides their performance, there was significant action in the men’s long jump, where Murali Sreeshankar won gold with a leap of 8.08m, breaching the CWG qualifying mark of 8.05m. His fifth jump, measured at 8.21m, is, however, under scrutiny.Lokesh Sathyanathan finished second with 7.94m, while Mohd Atta Sazid was third with a jump of 7.90m.In the men’s high jump, Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare won gold with a clearance of 2.28m, bettering the CWG mark of 2.22m. He also equalled the meet record set by Tejaswin Shankar and later attempted to improve the national record of 2.29m, but missed all three attempts at 2.30m. Meanwhile, Aadarsh Ram secured silver and also achieved the CWG qualification mark with a jump of 2.22m.The men’s 110m hurdles title was won by Tejas Ashok Shirse in 13.50s, but he missed out on a CWG berth, for which the qualifying time was 13.39s. Earlier in the morning session, Ravina, representing Haryana, won gold in the women’s 10,000m race walk with a time of 44:29.66 to qualify for the CWG, while Priyanka Goswami finished fourth.Results: Men: 1500m: Rahul Baloda (Rajasthan) 3:40.06s, Sakir (Haryana) 3:40.83s, Ajay Kumar Saroj (UP) 3:40.92s; 110m hurdles: Tejas Ashok Shirse (Reliance) 13.50s (MR), Krishik M (Reliance) 13.52s, Muhammed Lazan (Navy) 13.83s; Pole vault: Dev Kumar Meena (MP) 5.45m (NR), Kuldeep Kumar (MP) 5.45m (NR), Reegan G (TN) 5.15m; High jump: Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Maharashtra) 2.28m (MR equalled), Aadarsh Ram (TN) 2.22m, Sudeep (Karnataka) 2.12m; Long jump: M Sreeshankar (NCOE Trivandrum) 8.08m, S Lokesh (Reliance) 7.94m, Mohd Atta Sazid (Haryana) 7.90m; Discus throw: Dharamraj Yadav (Army) 55.20m, Bhartpreet Singh (Navy) 54.62m, Oinam Alson Singh (NCOE Patiala) 53.52m.Women: 100m hurdles: Nandhini K (TN) 13.24s, Pragyan Prashanti Sahu (Odisha) 13.33s, Anjali C (JSW) 13.35s; 10,000m race walk: Ravina (Haryana) 44:29.66s, Reshma Patel (All India Police) 44:57.94s, Munita Prajapati (UP) 45:23.92s; Hammer throw: Manpreet Kaur (Punjab) 59.08m, Kulvinder Kaur (Railways Sports) 57.76m, Divya Shandilya (Odisha) 56.41m.