Athletics: Rahul Kumar Pal shatters 5,000m record

Four meet records were set on the second day of the 11th Federation Cup National Junior Athletic Championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi here on Wednesday.

Rahul Kumar Pal rewrote the 11-year-old mark in boys 5,000m, the day’s first event. The lanky athlete from the Army Sports Institute (ASI) here in the city timed 14:16.67s, bettering 14:55.93s of Kuldeep Kumar (UP) set in 2001.

“It was a pleasant morning and the overnight rain made the morning even cooler. We performed well,” said Rahul Kumar.
Shahanara Khatun of West Bengal, in the corresponding girls’ event, also shattered the mark. The West Bengal athlete, who was behind for most of the race, set her pace midway through the race and crossed the finish line in 17:30.48s, erasing 17:41.17s set by L Suriya of Tamil Nadu in 2009.

In javelin throw, Rajeshkumar Bind of Maharashtra began with a mark of 71.43m, erasing the previous record of 69.25m set by Punjab’s Gurlirat Singh in 2004. He improved his own mark in another attempt by recording 74.75m for a new meet mark.
Anu R of Kerala set a new meet record in the 400m hurdles.
Haryana are leading the points table with 82 points followed by Kerala (73), Punjab (66) and Maharashtra (45).