Inter-State Athletics: Shot putter Manpreet smashes national record

CHENNAI: Having returned to competitive action in 2021 after serving a doping ban of four years, Haryana shot putter Manpreet Kaur smashed her own national record to steal the limelight at National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships here on Saturday.

Hima Das and her Assam teammate Amlan Borgohain won the women’s and men’s 100m gold respectively by the thinnest of margins. The 31-year-old Manpreet, who was handed a four-year ban from July 2017 after testing positive on four occasions that year, hurled the iron ball to a distance of 18.06m in her fourth attempt. She became the first Indian woman to cross 18m in shot put.

Manpreet’s earlier national record was 17.96m, which was set in 2015. She has now breached the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) qualifying standard of 17.76m for the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Kiran Baliyan of Uttar Pradesh was a distant second with 16.85m while Maharashtra’s Abha Khatua came third with 16.69m.

In the women’s 100m final, Hima beat national record holder Dutee Chand, clocking 11.43 seconds, her personal best over the distance. Dutee (11.44s), representing Odisha, was one-hundredth of a second behind Hima. Srabani Nanda, also of Odisha, was third with a timing of 11.53s. “This is my best moment. It is special because I have been inspired by the likes of my senior Dutee and I was able to do well against her,” Hima said.

Amlan, who holds the national record in 200m (20.52s), clocked 10.47s to win the men’s 100m dash, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Tamil Nadu’s K Elakkiyadasan (10.48s). Harjit Singh of Punjab was third in 10.55s.

Rookie Haryana quarter-miler Kiran Pahal took the women’s 400m gold with a timing of 52.47s while Rupal Choudhary of Uttar Pradesh won silver in 52.72s. R Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) took the bronze medal in 53.78s. Priya Mohan (Karnataka) did not start as she was unwell while local hope S Dhanalakshmi was disqualified.

Kerala’s M Sreeshankar expectedly won gold in men’s long jump with an effort of 8.23m while his teammate Muhammed Anees Yahiya (8.15m) and R Swaminathan of Tamil Nadu (7.89m) were second and third respectively. Sreeshankar has already qualified for the World Championships in Oregon next month and breached the AFI standard for the CWG.

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