Shanthi sets new national steeplechase mark

Tamil Nadu's S Shanthi set a new national record in women's 3000 metres steeplechase to steal the limelight on the second day of the MetLife 45th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Bangalore on Monday.

The 24-year-old from Pudukottai district, who had won the silver in the 1,500 metres on Sunday, was home in 10 minutes, 44.65 seconds at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, erasing the 10:52.12 mark of L Manjula (Karnataka), set at Delhi in March last year.

The athlete said she is hoping to prove her credentials to prospective employers -- Railways. "That was my motivation. I wanted to show that I am really good."

West Bengal's Y Bala Devi set a new meet record in the women's 20-km walk, clocking one hour, 44 minutes, 37 seconds, bettering Yasmin Kaur's feat of 1:45:28.36 achieved in September 2003.

Bala Devi's performance was below-par as she fell short of the national record that she holds (1:45:06.03).

Delhi's Sandeep Sarkaria picked the gold in the men's 100 metres clocking 10.45 seconds, beating back the challenge from Tamil Nadu's H Jayachandran and Vilas Neelagund of Karnataka, who both timed 10.47 seconds. Delhi's Piyush Kumar was fourth in 10.53 seconds.

Kerala's K M Greeshma, the 24-year-old second year post-graduate history student from Changanassery, was crowned the women's 100 metres champion (11.94 seconds).

Shakti Singh of Haryana, as expected, was the clear winner in the men's shot put with a below par effort of 18.80 metres, while Shamsher Singh of Rajasthan pocked the men's long jump gold with a jump of 7.66 metres.