Pole vaulter Rosy Meena Paulraj of Tamil Nadu turned out to be the unlikely star among track and field athletics at the National Games in Gandhinagar on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Rosy shattered the national record en route winning gold, clearing 4.20m to go past VS Surekha's earlier national mark of 4.15m set in 2014.
Her state mates, Pavitha Vengatesh and Baranica Elangovan were a distant second and third with efforts of 4m and 3.90m respectively.
In the men's long jump, Tamil Nadu’s Jeswin Aldrin beat Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Kerala’s Murali Sreeshankar for gold in a high-quality competition and qualify for the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Aldrin jumped 8.26m in his sixth and last attempt to win the gold and go past the World Championships qualifying mark of 8.25m. He also had two other 8m-plus jumps -- 8.07m amd 8.21m.
Sreeshankar, who won a silver in the Birmingham CWG in August and holds the national record of 8.36m, had a best jump of 7.93m, which he came up in his first attempt. He had another jump of 7.55m before passing all the remaining four attempts.
Another top long jumper, Muhammed Anees Yahiya of Kerala was third placed with a best jump of 7.92m.
Meanwhile, Amlan Borgohain of Assam and Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh clinched gold in the 100m events.
Jyothi, whose pet event is 100m hurdles in which she holds the national record, stunned the likes of Dutee Chand (Odisha) and Hima Das (Assam), to win the women's 100m gold with a time of 11.51 seconds.
Tamil Nadu's Archana Suseendran (11.55s) and Maharashtra's Diandra Valladares (11.62s) won the silver and bronze respectively.
National record holder Dutee finished sixth with a time of 11.69s while Hima was seventh in 11.74s.
“I didn't come here thinking of winning or losing. I just wanted to give a good timing and that helped me come up with my fastest race,” Jyothi said.
“They (Dutee and Hima) have always encouraged me and I thank them for their support. I am just happy that I won and don't think on the lines that I beat them,” she added.
Borgohain clocked 10.38s in the men's 100m dash to stand on the top of the podium. Tamil Nadu runners Elakiyadasan VK (10.44) and Siva Kumar B (10.48) were second and third respectively.
