Pole Vaulter Dev Kumar Meena Breaks Own National Record Yet Falls Short Of Asian C'ships Qualifying Mark
Dev Kumar Meena broke his own national record with a 5.35m effort at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships but has missed out on the Asian Championships qualifier.
Extending his sparkling form this season, Madhya Pradesh pole vaulter Dev Kumar Meena broke his own national record with an effort of 5.35m on his way to gold medal-winning show on the second day of the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships here Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Meena dominated the men's pole vault event as he bettered his earlier national mark of 5.32m which he had scaled while finishing on top during the Uttarakhand National Games in February.
Tamil Nadu athletes M Gowtham (5.15m) and G Reegan (5.10m) took the silver and bronze respectively. Former national record holder S Siva — also of Tamil Nadu — finished fourth with an effort of 5.05m.
Meena, however, fell short of the Asian Championships qualification mark of 5.51m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Asian Championships will be held in Gumi, South Korea from May 27-31.
Pole vault is one event in which there is a huge gap between Indian and international athletes.
The Asian record in men's pole vault is 6m, set by Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines in 2023, while the world record stands in the name of Swedish superstar Armand Duplantis at 6.27m.
Meena said he was a bit disappointed at missing out on the Asian Championships qualification mark.
'I wanted to raise the bar but there was light drizzle and my coach advised aganist continuing," Meena said.
On the tracks, there was intense competition in the women's 400m in which Uttar Pradesh's Rupal Chaudhary, one of the pre-race favourites, conserved every ounce of her energy to explode at the home stretch and win the gold with a time of 52.55 seconds.
Tamil Nadu's Asian Games medallist Vithya Ramraj (52.81 seconds), who had a good lead in the first 300m, couldn't switch gear in the last 100m. She was edged out by Rupal on the tape.
'I just wanted to catch up and shifted to another gear as the first 200m was slow," Rupal said after winning the gold medal.
Vithya said she paid the price for running at top gear in the first 300m.
Top six runners in the women's 400m dipped below the Asian Championships qualification time of 53.80 seconds.
Asian Games medallist Jyothi Yarraji too expressed her satisfaction in winning women's 100m hurdles gold with a time of 13.23 seconds and bettering the Asian Championships qualification time of 13.26 seconds.
Yarraji said she had pulled her right hamstring three weeks back and couldn't dip below 13 seconds.
'Kochi was my only chance for me to make the cut for the Asian Championships. Hence, I had no choice but to compete," said Yarraji who holds the national record of 12.78 seconds.
In men's 110m hurdles, national record holder Tejas Ashok Shirse of Maharashtra clinched the gold with a below-par time of 13.65 seconds. He missed the Asian Championships qualifying time of 13.56 seconds. His NR stands at 13.42 seconds.
National record holder high jumper Jeswin Aldrin is set to miss next month's Asian Championships in Korea as he was beaten by P David of Tamil Nadu for the gold.
David jumped 7.94m while Aldrin of Reliance produced an effort of 7.83m well below his national record distance of 8.42m.
The Asian Championships qualifying distance is set at 8.07m.
Meanwhile, Sarvesh Anil Kushare of Maharashtra won gold in men's high jump after clearing 2.26m. He bettered the Asian Championships qualifying mark of 2.23m.
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