Ranchi: An incredible performance by two male sprinters—Gurvindervir Singh and Vishal TK—- set the track ablaze with record-breaking performance to establish new benchmarks while Tejaswin Shankar became the first Indian decathlete to cross 8000 points in the Senior Nationals Federation Cup athletics at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi on Saturday.
On a blockbuster day, Gurvindervir Singh, 25, was the first to enter the record books. The Punjab sprinter representing Reliance at the National Senior Athletics Federation Competition, clocked 10.09 seconds to reclaim his men’s 100m crown. The newly-crowned champion had clocked 10.17 seconds in the semis on Friday. “This record is to prove that I’m not finished and still have power in my legs,” says Gurvindervir Singh in post-race interaction.
The men’s 100m champion also achieved the Glasgow Commonwealth Games qualification time of 10.16 seconds. He also bettered the meet record of 10.18 seconds set by Animesh Kujur last year.
On Gurvindervir Singh’s outstanding performance, his coach, James Hillier, says he expects his athlete to further improve in the coming months. “He is learning to execute the plans in the races, and his performance graph is getting better,” says James Hillier.
But it wasn’t Animesh Kujur’s day. He finished second with a time of 10.20 seconds. Animesh Kujur had, in fact, clocked 10.15 seconds in the second semis on Friday.
A couple of minutes after Gurindervir Singh’s record-breaking performance, focus shifted to the men’s quarter-mile race. Vishal TK became the first Indian athlete to break 45 seconds for the 400m on Indian soil. His gold-winning time of 44.98 seconds was better than his national record of 45.12 seconds clocked last year in Chennai. “Athletics fans will certainly keep a track of me when I compete at the global level,” says Vishal TK of conquering new territory on Saturday.
In his preparation to break the 45-second barrier, Vishal TK says he had visualised the race. “I was confident of breaking 45 seconds today,” says the Tamil Nadu sprinter.
Away from track races, the spotlight was on Tejaswin Shankar as he became the first Indian to join the 8000 points club in decathlon. His gold-winning performance of 8057 in Ranchi was better than his own national record of 7947 points set earlier this year in March. He also bettered the Glasgow Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 7787 points.
Results:
Men
100m: Gurindervir Singh (Reliance) 10.09 (NR previous record 10.18 secs in 2025), Animesh Kujur (Odisha) 10.20 secs, Pranav Pramod (Reliance) 10.29 secs.
400m: Vishal TK (Tamil Nadu) 44.98 secs (MR improved his own time of 45.12 secs), Rajesh Ramesh (Tamil Nadu) 45.31 secs, Jay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 45.47 secs
Decathlon: Tejaswin Shankar (Reliance) 8057 points (NR previous best 7947 points), Thowfeeq N (NCOE Trivandrum) 7530 points, Gokul KR (Navy) 7157 points.
Women
100m: Sudeshna H (Maharashtra) 11.56 secs, Giridharani Ravikumar (Tamil Nadu) 11.58 secs, Tamanna (Haryana) 11.62 secs.
400m: Vithya Ramjaj (Tamil Nadu) 52.22 secs, Ansa Babi (All India Police) 53.07 secs, Prachi (JSW) 53.26 secs.
1500m: Pooja (JSW) 4:11.34, Ankita (Uttarakhand) 4:12.28, Anju (Haryana) 4:21.26.
Javelin throw: Shilpa Rani (Haryana) 56.46m, Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 55.61m, Rashmi K (Andhra Pradesh) 54.85m
Shot put: Krishna Jayashankar (Reliance) 17.35m, Yogita (Haryana) 16.82m, Shiksha (Reliance) 16.61m.
Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (Tamil Nadu) 4.10m (MR previous 4.06m in the name of Krishna R), Nitika Anup (Madhya Pradesh) 4.10m, Krishna Rachan (Railway sports) 3.90m.
Triple jump: Niharika Vashisht (Punjab) 13.64m (MR improved his own record of 13.57m), Bhairabi Roy (Railway sports) 13.28m, Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 13.28m.
(IANS)
