Bhubaneswar: Seasoned Tamil Nadu athlete Baranica Elangovan smashed the overall national record in the women’s pole vault event in a stunning performance, clearing a height of 4.22m on the opening day of the National Indoor Championships Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Baranica, a three-time national outdoor champion, cleared 4.22m to better the earlier national record of 4.21m, which has been in the name of Rosy Meena Paulraj since 2022.
Before Baranica’s feat Tuesday, there was no official national indoor record for women’s pole vault, as this was the inaugural national championships.
The 4.22m mark of Baranica will now be the national indoor as well as the overall record, and it will just be a formality for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to ratify it.
The officers of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) took samples from her for a dope test after her event, a requirement for ratification of national records.
She went on to further improve her national record but failed three times when the bar was raised to 4.25m.
“I have major competitions ahead and was focusing only on the techniques.
It worked for me, and I am really happy with that. I was mainly focusing on the runway approach only.
Previously, I was struggling with the runway,” said Baranica after her feat.
She credited her coach, Milber Bertrand Russell, who has been with her since 2016, for her feat.
Baranica, who is currently with the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar after shifting base from Chennai in 2023, had made a remarkable comeback from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) surgery on her left leg in 2020.
PAYASINGH SHINES In other events, local athlete Sarun Payasingh won the men’s long jump gold with a personal best effort of 7.80m.
The 25-year-old Payasingh beat triple jump national record holder Praveen Chithravel of Tamil Nadu, who was competing in long jump here.
Chithravel, who was representing JSW, made only three attempts and left after a best effort of 7.78m, which fetched him a silver. P David of Railways was third with 7.69m.
“This is my first indoor competition, and winning gold is a big achievement.
I was not thinking about the medal but was looking to do my personal best,” said Payasingh, who has been roped in by Reliance.
Born to a farmer in a village in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, Payasingh is currently at the residential hostel attached to the indoor facility.
He was earlier at the Sports Hostel in Bhubaneswar from 2016 to 2024 after he was spotted at the talent scouting at the district level.
“We have four acres of land at the village, and my father grows crops there.
I competed in the School Nationals, and my PE teacher told me to participate in the talent scouting programme.
I also played football earlier.
I also run 100m. I am competing in 60m hurdles as well here.”