Sanjay Ghosh, Saraswati Dey emerge fastest

Sanjay Ghosh of the Services stole the limelight by emerging as the fastest man while seasoned Bahadur Singh kept his reputation intact by clinching the gold medal in the shot put event in the DDA Raja Bhalendra Singh national circuit meet in Delhi on Monday.

Ghosh capitalised on a flying start to leave his fancied opponents behind and claim the coveted gold medal in the men's 100 metres run with a timing of 10.50 seconds, pushing national record holder Anil Kumar of the Services to second place at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.

Anil Kumar, who was the favourite to win the race, finished with a timing of 10.54 seconds while Karnataka's Clifford Joshua had to be content with the bronze, with an effort of 10.58 seconds.

The one-day meet, which along with the final circuit meet in Ludhiana will serve as the selection trials for next month's Busan Asian Games, saw below par performances by most athletes, as most of them failed to achieve their personal best efforts.

The burly Bahadur Singh of Punjab Police hurled the iron ball to a distance of 19.46 metres to in the men's shot put event. He not only won the gold but also settled a score with his old rival Shakti Singh, who had to be content with the silver with an effort of 18.08 metres.

Navpreet Singh, who failed to make much of an impression in the recent Commonwealth Games, took the bronze with a throw of 17.60 metres.

In the women's 100 metres, Saraswati Dey of Railways emerged the fastest with a timing of 11.47 seconds though it was nowhere near her personal best.

Vinita Tripathi (11.83 secs) of LIC came second while the third place went to the experienced Rachita Mistry (11.87 secs) of Maharashtra.

Star performer K M Beenamol of Railways did not face any challenge from her opponents as she claimed the gold medal in the women's 800 metres, clocking 2:02.21 seconds. Madhuri Singh (2:03.46 secs) and C Latha (2:04.15 seconds) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

K M Binu of Railways predictably won the men's 800 metres with a timing 1:48.38 seconds on a day which saw Railways' athletes picking up the bulk of the gold medals at stake.