Tejinder wins shot put gold

Chennai, September 25

Tejinder Pal Singh of Services pipped former national record holder Om Prakash Singh to the men’s shot put gold on the opening day of the 57th National Open Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium here today.

Tejinder sealed the top spot with his final throw of 18.86 metres after trailing Om Prakash for most part of the competition.

Railways’ Jasdeep Singh claimed the bronze medal.

G Lakshmanan of Services cruised to victory in the men’s 5000 metre race. Lakshmanan, fresh from winning the gold medal in the 3,000m event at the Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, clocked a time of 14 minutes, 4.21 seconds to blow away the competition.

Abhishek Pal of Railways came second in 14:8.38. Mann Singh of Services took the bronze in 14:08.87.

It was way below Lakshmanan’s personal best of 13:35.69, which he achieved during the World Championships in London.

In the women’s 5000m race, L Surya won in a time of 16 minutes, 2.85 seconds to lead a Railways one-two, with Chinta Yadav (16:40.45) coming in second. Saigeeta Naik of All India Police took the third place.

Sarita P Singh of Railways won the women’s hammer throw with an effort of 60.54m. Gunjan Singh (59.10m) of Railways won the silver medal, while Haryana’s Jyoti (57.07m) won the bronze medal.

Davinder Singh Kang, who reached the final round of the javelin throw event in the World Championships last month, qualified for the final. — PTI