Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Indoor Stadium continues to be a dream venue for Tamil Nadu’s pole vault star Baranica Elangovan, who once again produced a record-breaking performance at the facility to stamp her dominance on the national stage.
The 29-year-old cleared 4.23m on Sunday to better her own national record of 4.22m, which she had set at the inaugural National Indoor Athletics Championships held at the same venue in March. Remarkably, both record-breaking performances have come at the Bhubaneswar Indoor Stadium within a span of just five weeks, reinforcing her strong association with the venue.
Baranica achieved the new mark on her third attempt and described the performance as another satisfying outing in her career. With this effort, she continues to raise the benchmark in Indian women’s pole vault.
Originally from Tamil Nadu, Baranica has now shifted her training base to Odisha and is currently practising in Bhubaneswar, a move that appears to be paying rich dividends in her performances.
In the men’s heptathlon, Thowfeeq N of NCOE Trivandrum delivered a commanding performance to clinch the gold medal with a total of 5,350 points. He maintained his lead from Day One, where he had accumulated 2,943 points, and finished comfortably ahead of his rivals.
The men’s U20 heptathlon title was claimed by Kirthik Vasan S of Tamil Nadu, who topped the standings with 4,609 points. He was followed by Jinoy Jayan of NCOE Trivandrum with 4,518 points and Aryan Prakash of Madhya Pradesh with 4,509 points.
In the women’s pentathlon, Odisha’s Purnima Hembram delighted the home crowd by securing the gold medal with a tally of 3,835 points. Isha Chandra Prakash of Uttarakhand finished second with 3,671 points, while Bidisha Kundu of West Bengal took third place with 3,600 points.
The women’s U20 pentathlon title went to Jaskiran Kaur of Uttarakhand, who emerged victorious with 3,272 points. Priya of Haryana (3,133 points) and Alfaz Kaur Grewal of Punjab (3,066 points) completed the podium finishers.
The women’s pole vault event once again belonged to Baranica, whose record-breaking 4.23m effort secured her the gold medal ahead of Nitika of Madhya Pradesh and Blessy Kunjumon of Kerala, both of whom cleared 3.90m.
With yet another national record to her name, Baranica continues to underline her supremacy in the event and remains the standout performer of the championship so far.
