Anil Kumar, Gurdev set new marks

National sprint champion Anil Kumar of Services set a new men's 100 metres meet record at the 31st National Games athletics competition, clocking 10.49 seconds in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

He bettered Amit Khanna's mark of 10.54 seconds, which was set in 1997.

Anil, who skipped the event at the last National Games in Manipur, had clocked 10.37 seconds at the National Open meet in Madras.

In the final on Wednesday, he is expected to have a cakewalk as none of the other qualifiers were anywhere close to his timing. Ajai Raj Singh of Punjab posted the second best time of 10.56 seconds.

Anil also holds the national record in the 200 metres.

The others who made it to the final are Anand Menezes of Maharashtra (10.62 seconds), H Jayachandran of Tamil Nadu (10.78), Vikas Parashar of Punjab (10.79), Sanjay Ghosh of Services (10.86), Sachin Navale of Maharashtra (10.90) and Alex Antony (10.95).

Gurdev Singh of Services set a new meet record in the 20-kms men's walk and won the first gold medal at the Games.

Gurdev clinched the top spot with a timing of 1:29:39 seconds, beating Gurmit Singh of Punjab, who clocked 1:29:49 seconds, and Sita Ram of Services, who finished in 1:31:56 seconds.

He bettered the previous Games record of 1:32:43 seconds, set by Sita Ram of Services at the fifth edition of the Games in Manipur, in 1999.

His effort fell short of his national record of 1:25:21 seconds, set at the Inter-State athletic championship in Madras in July last year.

The strong Punjab athletic contingent, traditionally strong in the throw events, kept their reputation intact claiming the men's shot put and women's discus throw golds on a day which saw only one meet record fall by the wayside.

Star shotputter Bahadur Singh claimed the coveted gold in the men's shot put, hurling the iron ball to a distance of 19.38 metres while the silver medal was pocketed by his rival and former national champion Shakti Singh of Haryana with an effort of 19.34 metres.

In the women's discus throw event, Harwant Kaur brought cheer for the Punjab contingent, grabbing the gold with a throw of 55.45 metres while the seasoned Neelam J Singh of Haryana was pushed to the second position with an effort of 55.09 metres.

Punjab also found a hero in Prithipal Singh, who clinched the gold medal in the men's triple jump event with a leap of 15.74 metres.

Tamil Nadu opened its account in the track events as K Shankar bagged the gold in the men's 5,000 metres.

National record holder Bahadur Singh of Chandigarh finished a poor fifth.

Shankar, who won the gold in the event at the National meet in Madras, won comfortably, clocking 14:24:06 seconds -- 49 seconds ahead of Gojen Singh of Manipur, who finished second. Aman Saini of Himachal Pradesh bagged the bronze, with a timing of 14:25:89 seconds.