Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 10: Sprinter Dutee Chand set the track ablaze in the qualifiers itself with a new meet record even as Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) tightened their grip around the overall title by maintaining the top position in the 35th National Games here Tuesday.
On the 10th day of competitions, SSCB, the two-time defending champions, stayed comfortably placed at the top with 90 medals (55 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze). Maharashtra took the second spot on account of lesser gold medals, totaling 100 overall (27 gold, 40 silver and 33 bronze) while Haryana were on the third spot with 56 medals (27 gold, 20 silver and nine bronze).
At the athletics arena, Dutee, representing Orissa, broke the meet record in the heats itself, clocking 11.83 seconds in the women’s 100m sprint to better the previous mark of 11.84s set by HM Jyothi in the 2011 edition. The 19-year-old is fighting a legal battle to compete internationally again after she was banned for failing a controversial gender test.
Another meet record was shattered in the men’s long jump finals where Ankit Sharma claimed the gold medal after clearing 8.04m to better the 7.79m mark set by Kerala’s Shyam Kumar back in 1994. Tamil Nadu’s Premkumar Kumaravel got the silver with an effort of 7.68m, followed by Karanataka’s Samsheer SE (7.46m).
In the women’s 1500m run, Uttar Pradesh’s Monika Chaudhary upstaged pre-race favourite Sini Markose of Kerala to bag the gold, accelerating in the final few meters to surprise the field. Monika clocked 4:22.01s, beating Sini, who finished in 4:23.03s to nab the silver. Haryana’s Sushma Devi was third
The women’s hammer throw gold went into Orissa’s kitty with Sarita Singh’s effort of 56.47m. The silver and bronze went to Punjab’s KM Rachna (56.08m) and Ritu Dhiman (55.60m) of Uttar Pradesh.
In the hockey competition being played in Kollam, SSCB entered the men’s summit clash with a thumping 5-1 triumph over Jharkhand. Binay Bhengra, Davinder Singh, Siraz, Jony Jasrotia and Varinder Kumar scored in a second half flurry of goals to hammer Jharkhand, for which the only scoring strike came from Arvind Kujur.
SSCB will square off against Orissa in the final after the eastern state scripted a stunning fightback to beat Haryana in sudden death. Trailing 1-3 for better part of the match, Orissa bounced back to level the scores in the closing few minutes before finishing neck and neck with Haryana in the penalty shoot-out.
In the sudden death, Orissa held nerves to net one in but Haryana cracked under pressure to miss their chance and bow out despite dominating the majority of the match. However, the Orissa eves bowed out losing 0-3 to Punjab.
PTI
