National Inter-State Athletics: Sreeshankar smashes meet record for long jump gold, Hima emerges fastest

Long Jumper M Sreeshankar of Kerala smashed the meet record while Hima Das emerged the fastest woman in the 61st National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at the JLN Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

With the effort of 8.23m, Sreeshankar eclipsed Prem Kumar's meet record of 8m set in 2013. The national record holder (8.36m) also reaffirmed his entry to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) for which the qualification mark was set at 8m.

Another Malayali, Muhammed Anees Yahiya secured silver in the men's long jump event with an effort of 8.15m and secured his CWG berth.

In the women's 100m final, Hima Das pipped Dutee Chand to take the first prize. Das clocked 11.43 seconds while Chand finished second on 11.44 seconds.

Kerala secured two more medals on the second day of the meet through Noah Nirmal Tom and Muhammed Ajmal V in the men's 400m as they secured silver and bronze respectively.

Meanwhile, Kerala's PU Chithra finished eighth (4:39.03) in women's 1500m that was won by Delhi's Chanda (4:13.85).

Kerala also missed out on the podium in men's 100m as Midhun T finished fourth (10.62 sec) behind third-placed Punjab's Harjit Singh (10.55). Assam's Amlan Borgohain (10.47) pipped Tamil Nadu's Elakkiyadasan K (10.48) to claim gold.

Anand Manoj and Akshay M of Kerala could not finish on the podium in men's pole vault with the former finishing fifth with an effort of 4.50m. Siva S of Tamil Nadu won the event clearing 5m.

 

Selected results
Men's Long Jump: M Sreeshankar (Kerala), 8.23m; Muhammed Anees Yahiya (Kerala), 8.15m, Swaminathan R (Tamil Nadu), 7.89m

Men's 400m: Amol Jacob (Delhi), 45.68 sec; Noah Nirmal Tom (Kerala), 46.44; Muhammed Ajmal V (Kerala), 46.58