Gurpreet Singh breaks long-standing mark

Gurpreet Singh of Punjab on Wednesday shattered a 37-year-old national record in the 110 metres hurdles on the opening day of the 41st National and Inter-State athletic championships in Lucknow.

Gurpreet clocked 14.07 seconds to better the national record of Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, set at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Randhawa had then clocked 14.09 seconds while finishing fifth in the final of the event.

Sahib Singh, also of Punjab, finished second in the event with a time of 14.57 seconds.

In the men's 1,500 metres, Kerala's Sanjeeva finished first, clocking 3:15.64 seconds while Shyam Bihari of Uttar Pradesh, with a timing of 3:51.74 seconds, was second.

In the women's 1,500 metres, Delhi's Geeta finished first in 4:23.09 seconds while the second place went to Madhuri Singh of Punjab, who timed 4:28.53 seconds.

Manisha Mandal of West Bengal won the women's javelin throw with a distance of 52.24 metres.

In women's 100 metres hurdles, West Bengal's Soma Biswas finished first, clocking 14.10 seconds while Mukta Shah, also of West Bengal, was second in 14.18 seconds.

Tamil Nadu's N Latha won the women's shot put with a heave of 15.50 metres. Jharkhand's Harwant Kaur, with a throw of 15.34 metres, was second.

In the women's 400 metres, Haryana's Sunit Dahiya clocked 53.31 seconds to finish first while Jeincy Phillip of Kerala clocked 53.36 seconds to attain second place.

Tamil Nadu's P Ramchandran won the men's 400 metres, with a tme of 46.78 seconds, ahead of Kerala's Manoj Lal, who was second in 46.84 seconds.