Former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary nabbed his maiden National Games gold with a new meet record in triple jump today as previous marks continued to tumble like nine pins in the athletics arena on the penultimate day of competitions in the 35th edition here.
Former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary nabbed his maiden National Games gold with a new meet record in triple jump today as previous marks continued to tumble like nine pins in the athletics arena on the penultimate day of competitions in the 35th edition here.
But what remained unchallenged was the Services Sports Control Board's (SSCB) domination on the medals table as they remained on top with a tally of 131 (81 gold, 23 silver and 27 bronze so far).
Hosts Kerala displaced Haryana from the second spot owing to a strong athletics performance to total 119 (34 gold, 37 silver and 48 bronze). Haryana took the third spot with 33 gold, 37 silver and 119 bronze.
The track and field events proved to be the most enthralling yet again for a packed house.
Former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Renjith got over the disappointment of disqualification in men's long jump by shattering the meet record in triple jump for a gold medal and a berth in the World Championships.
The 29-year-old, who won bronze medals in the past two National Games, cleared 16.66m to better the 16.62m record set by Arpinder Singh in the 2011 Games.
"I am very happy with how I performed and it has helped me put behind the bad memories of the last one year, especially the Arjuna awards controversy," Renjith said after the race, referring to the Arjuna award, which was withdrawn from him owing to a doping suspension in the past.
"I have also qualified for the World Championships (scheduled from August 22 to 30 in Beijing) and I am looking to resurrect myself. I was aiming to better the meet record and it is very satisfying to have done that," added the athlete who announced that he would retire after the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The silver went to defending champion Arpinder (16.41m), while the bronze was clinched by SSCB's Rakesh Babu (16.29m).
There was a massive upset in the men's 400m hurdles when former Asian Games gold-medallist and the national and meet record holder Joseph Abraham was disqualified for a false start, leading to the crowning of a new champion in SSCB's Durgesh Kumar, much to the disappointment of home fans.
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