Thiruvananthapuram: Controversial teen sprinter Dutee Chand clinched the women’s 100m gold with a new meet record, as athletes continued to raise the bar in track and fields of the 35th National Games, here on Wednesday.
Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) remained at the top of the table in overall standings, with 107 medals (66 gold, 19 silver and 22 bronze). Haryana rose to the second spot with 71 medals (30 gold, 25 silver and 16 bronze) while Maharashtra slipped to third on account of lesser gold medals with a total tally 103 (27 gold, 40 silver and 36 bronze).

Dutee displayed blazing form to break the meet record for a third time in the Games, and comfortably take home the gold medal with an effort of 11.76 sec.

“The weather here has really helped my performance. It is neither very cold nor very hot, which has helped me perform at my optimum level. Although, I could not produce my personal best of 11.73sec, I am glad that I have managed to win the gold with a record,” said the 19-year-old.

Kerala’s Santhini Vallikkad clocked at 11.84 sec to win the silver, while Maharashtra’s Rashmi Sheregar was a close third with a timing of 11.87sec.

In men’s competition, Haryana’s Dharambir stunned one and all by breaching the 100m meet record of 10.52 sec, to snatch the gold with a timing of 10.46 sec.

“I was here to compete in the 200m race, but when I felt that my body has acclimatised pretty well to the weather, I decided to try my luck in the 100m as well. I was not even thinking of a medal, let alone a gold,” a grinning Dharambir, who idolises Usain Bolt, said after his stunning triumph.

The silver was clinched by Odisha’s Amiya Mallick (10.64sec) and the bronze was grabbed by Maharashtra’s Krishnakumar Rane in 10.65sec.

The men’s 400m event also had a new meet record when SSCB’s Arokia Rajeev finished the race in 46.40 sec to beat the previous mark of 46.97 sec set by Paramjit Singh back in 1997. He finished way ahead of the field in which, Haryana’s Lalit Mathur (47.04sec) and Bengal’s Chandan Bauri (47.41) ended up being the respective silver and bronze medal winners.

In the women’s 400m race, Kerala’s Anilda Thomas left everyone behind to win the gold medal in a meet record-equalling 52.71 sec, which was set by KM Beenamol in 2001.

A new meet record was also set in women’s pole vault when Tamil Nadu’s Surekha Babu touched the 4m mark for the first time in the history of the Games. Surekha cleared excatly 4m to clinch the gold. Kerala pocketed the silver and bronze through Dija Cherian (3.60m) and Sinju Prakash (3.40m).

The 1500m men’s race was won by Uttarakhand’s Ravinder Tautela (3:51.96 sec) ahead of Kerala’s Sajeesh Joseph (3:52.08sec). Haryana’s Sandeep got the bronze with a timing of 3:52.25 sec.

In women’s long jump event, Kerala’s Neena Varakil took home the gold medal by clearing 6.39m, followed by statemate Prajusha Antony (6.25m) and Punjab’s Bhumika Thakur (6.23m).

SSCB’s Dharamraj Yadav was crowned the new men’s discus throw champion after he hurled the discus to 57.44m.

(Agencies)