Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 12:
Rajinder Singh smashed the national record in men’s javelin throw, while former Asian champion Renjith Maheshwary nabbed his maiden gold with a new meet mark in triple jump as the athletics arena continued to enthrall on the penultimate day of the 35th National Games here today.
But what remained unchallenged was the Services Sports Control Board’s (SSCB) domination on the medals table as they remained on top with a tally of 131 (81 gold, 23 silver and 27 bronze so far). Hosts Kerala displaced Haryana from the second spot owing to a strong athletics performance to total 119 (34 gold, 37 silver and 48 bronze). Haryana took the third spot with 33 gold, 37 silver and 22 bronze.
Amid a sea of meet records tumbling, a new national record was created when Haryana’s Rajinder Singh cleared 82.23m to better the 80.72m mark of Anil Kumar Singh (2008). SSCB’s Davinder Singh (75.34m) and Uttar Pradesh’s Vipin Kasana (75.18m) were the respective silver and bronze medallists.
Elsewhere, veteran long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan bid adieu to the track with a 10,000m silver even as another local lady O P Jaisha stole the limelight by collecting her second gold medal at the Games with a new meet record of 33:08.55sec. She had earlier won the 5000m gold with a meet record.
Sreedharan clocked 34:58.85sec in her final race egged on by an enthusiastic crowd at University Stadium. Maharashtra’s Swati Gadhave had to be content with a bronze after finishing in 34:59.73sec.
Former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Renjith got over the disappointment of disaqualification in men’s long jump by shattering the meet record in triple jump for a gold medal. The 29-year-old, who won bronze medals in the past two National Games, cleared 16.66m to better the 16.62m record set by Arpinder Singh in the 2011 Games. (PTI)
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