Sudha Singh records steeplechase gold

Jharkhand’s Sudha Singh set the track on fire by pocketing the gold in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase with a new meet record. She clocked 10:29.92 seconds to set a new meet record, brushing aside Santhi Soundarajan’s meet record of 10:44.76 seconds set in 2006, in the 14th Federation Cup Athletics championships here on Thursday.

Sudha has by far the country’s best athlete in the women’s steeplechase event since its start two years back, However, she was unlucky as she couldn’t be able to get past her own national record of 10:18.76 sec.

Rajashree Patil of Maharashtra claimed the silver with a timing of 10:50.99 secs while another Jharkhand girl, Kamlesh Bhagel, pocketed the bronze with 11:01.07 secs. In men’s long jump, Maha Singh, made a fine comeback as he returned to the track after a long gap of more than 18 months, to clinch the gold by covering a distance of 7.57m.

Uttar Pradesh’s Pushpender Singh won the silver with 7.44m and Punjab Police’s Amrit Pal Singh bagged the bronze with 7.42m.

Seema Antil of CRPF won the gold by logging a distance of 14.17m in women’s shot put, while the silver went to her teammate Saroj Sihag (13.64m) and the bronze picked up by Patwant Kaur (12.64m).

Jharkhand’s Hari Shankar Roy, National record holder in high jump, could only manage to clear 2.15m for gold. Benedict Starley of Tamil Nadu (2.11m) won the silver and his statemate L. Yograj pocketed the bronze with (2.08m).

RESULTS

Men:

3000m steeplechase: 1. Om Prakash (ASCB) 8:53.54, 2. Arun De Souza (AP) 9:00.91, 3. Elam Singh (ASCB) 9:01.12; 110m hurdles: 1. Krishna Mohan (ASCB) 14.27, 2. P. Muthusamy (TN) 14.37, 3. D. Prasad (AP) 14.70; High jump: 1. Hari Sankar Roy (Jkd) 2.15, 2. Benedict Starli (TN) 2.11, 3. L. Yograj (TN) 2.08; Long jump: 1. Maha Singh (Pun) 7.57, 2. Pushpender Singh (U.P.) 7.44, 3. Amritpal Singh (P. Pol) 7.42; Discus: 1. Simranjit Singh (BSF) 51.00, 2. Sukhbir Singh (P. Pol) 49.89, 3. Rambir Singh (ASCB) 49.52; Decathlon: 1. Daya Ram (ASCB) 6511 points, 2. Raneesh V.V. (Ker) 5774, 3. G. Kosalanath (TN) 5768.

Women: 3000m steeplechase: 1. Sudha Singh (Jkd) 10:29.92 (NMR, previous 10:44.76), 2. Rajshree Patel (Mah) 10:50.99, 3. Kamlesh Baghel (Jkd) 11:01.07; Shot Put: 1. Seema Antil (CRPF) 14.17, 2. Saroj Sihag (CRPF) 13.64, 3. Patwant Kaur (Pun) 12.64; Javelin: 1. Suman Devi (U.P.) 46.28, 2. Gurpreet Kaur (Har) 45.05, 3. Chunki Chaudhary (CRPF) 42.78; 20,000m Walk: 1. Y. Bala Devi (Jkd) 1:43:33.69, 2. L. Deepmala Devi (Manipur) 1:46:45.53, 3. Sandhya K.J. (CRPF) 1:57:21.58.