Parveen Kumar of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana’s Amit set new national records in racewalking on the penultimate day of the 34th National Junior Athletics Championships at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium in Hotwar, Ranchi, on Sunday.
Praveen, who won gold in the Under-20 boys’ 10km racewalk with a timing of 42:41:68 seconds, eclipsed the previous national record of 42:58:01 seconds set by Kuldeep Singh of Haryana here in 2011.
Vishvendra Singh of Madhya Pradesh won silver (43:02:52 seconds) while UP’s Farman Ali claimed bronze with a timing of 43:12:93 seconds.
Amit shattered the national record in the Under-18 boys’ five-km racewalk by striking gold in 21:17:63 seconds. The Haryana lad set aside the national record (21:55:60 seconds) standing in the name of Punjab’s Daljeet Singh in the junior meet at Muzaffarpur in 1990. Amit beat Sachin Singh Bohra of Uttarakhand (21:56:79 seconds) and Delhi’s Manish Kumar (22:00:19 seconds).
Jharkhand athletes, who drew a blank on the third day, had something to cheer, however. Shobit Kumar qualified for the finals of the boys’ Under-16 600-metre run. In the heats, Hussain Talib of Chhattisgarh came first while Maharashtra’s Ashok Ronak finished second.
