DEHRADUN, Feb 10:
Nineteen-year-old Dev Kumar Meena, a farmer’s son from a nondescript village in Madhya Pradesh, soared to unprecedented heights to win gold in men’s pole vault even as the formidable Services widened the gap with its nearest rivals in the National Games medal tally here Monday.
Meena, hailing from the agricultural belt of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, smashed the national record with an effort of 5.32m en route to his gold on the third day of athletics competition.
He bettered the earlier national record of 5.31m set by Subramani Siva while winning the gold in the 2022 Games in Gujarat. He defended the gold he had won in the 2023 edition.
The sprinter-turned-pole vaulter was spotted in November 2020 by the talent-search team of the state government.
He was initially selected for short sprints, but later switched to pole vault as he showed more interest in the jumping event. He later trained at the Madhya Pradesh Athletics Academy in Bhopal.
“The journey to a national record has been a long one. My biggest support has been my family and coach,” Meena said after his event.
“I come from a farmer’s family, and reaching this stage has been full of struggles. Today, I wanted to do something extraordinary, and I ended up creating history.”
Meena had won a bronze medal in the Asian U20 Championship last year with an effort of 5.10m. He had also won gold in the Senior Federation Cup National Championships last year.
His earlier personal best was 5.20m while winning the gold medal at the Indian Open U23 competition in Patna last year.
Services added seven medals, including three gold, on Monday to remain on top with 45 golds, 18 silver, 17 bronze for a total haul of 80 as just three competition days are left in the Games.
Last edition’s top team Maharashtra leapfrogged Karnataka to occupy the second spot with 129 medals (33 gold, 48 silver, 48 bronze). Karnataka dropped to third with 66 medals (32 gold, 15 silver, 19 bronze).
Haryana (24 gold, 33 silver, 36 bronze) and Madhya Pradesh (24 gold, 16 silver, 18 bronze) rounded off the top five.
In another creditable performance in athletics, Anushka Yadav of Uttar Pradesh bettered the women’s hammer throw Games record on way to winning gold with an effort of 62.89m.
The earlier Games record of 62.47m was in the name of Tanya Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh, who had won the event in the 2023 edition.
In men’s shot put, national record holder Tajinderpal Singh Toor of Punjab expectedly won the gold with a throw of 19.74m. Defending champion Samardeep Singh Gill (19.38m) of Madhya Pradesh and Prabhkirpal Singh (19.04m), also of Punjab, clinched the silver and bronze respectively. (PTI)
Toor’s national record stands at 21.77m. He had won gold in the 2022 edition of the Games.
Andhra Pradesh’s Jyothi Yarraji, who had won gold in women’s 100m hurdles on Sunday, entered the 200m final after winning her heat race with a time of 23.85 seconds.
Of the eight gold medals on offer on the day, Punjab secured three, while Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Services, Tamil Nadu and host Uttarakhand took one each.
In tennis, Gujarat’s Vaidehi Chaudhari and Zeel Desai clinched the women’s doubles gold while Karnataka’s Prajwal Dev and Nikki K Poonacha won the men’s doubles title.
Vaidehi and Desai beat the Maharashtra pair of Pooja Ingle and Akanksha Nitture 6-3, 6-2 to bag the gold.
In the men’s doubles final, Dev and Poonacha beat Services’ pair Ishaq Iqbal and Faisal Qamar 6-3, 6-1 to win the gold.
Vaidehi is in line to win her second gold, as she also reached the women’s singles final. She will face Vaishnavi Adkar of Maharashtra in the summit clash.
In the men’s singles final, Gujarat’s Dev Javia will face Ishaque Iqbal of Services.
In table tennis, heavyweights West Bengal and Maharashtra set up a bumper title clash in the women’s team event after registering convincing wins in their respective semifinals here on Monday.
Maharasthra blanked Haryana 3-0 in the first semifinal and West Bengal crushed Delhi by a similar margin in their last four clash.
In judo, Asmita Dey of Uttar Pradesh clinched gold in women’s -48kg category, while Uttarakhand’s Sidharth Rawat finished on top of the podium in the men’s -60kg event.
In the men’s -66kg competition, Rohit of Gujarat emerged gold winner while the top prize in the -52kg women’s event went to Maharashtra’s Shraddha Chopade.
In men’s -73kg category, Arun Kumar of Services won the gold while the women’s -57kg gold went to Ankita of Haryana.
In hockey, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana made it to the semifinals in the women’s category as Pool A winners and runners-up. Jharkhand and Maharashtra entered the semifinals from Pool B.
In men’s category, Karnataka and Punjab made it to the semifinals from Pool A while Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra did the same from Pool B.
In Sattal, Mountain Biking XCT (Cross-Country Time Trial) made its grand debut.
In the men’s elite category, Khushiman Gharti of Services won the gold medal with a time of 00:42:56.221. Kharisking Adonis Tangpu of Manipur bagged the silver with 00:44:07.348, while Kamlesh Rana of Services won the bronze with 00:45:59.030.
In the women’s Elite XCT final, Maharashtra’s Pramita Praful Soman clinched the gold with a time of 00:46:26.823. Karnataka’s Star Narjare won the silver, clocking 00:46:44.411, while Uttarakhand’s Sunita Shrestha took the bronze with 00:48:38.975. (PTI)
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