Rambabu from Uttar Pradesh broke the national record in the men’s 35km race to win a gold medal on the concluding day of athletics competition at the National Games here on Tuesday.
Babu, an unemployed physical education graduate, won the competition in 2 hours 36 minutes 34 seconds, breaking the earlier national record of 2:40:16 held by Haryana’s Junaid Khan, who on Tuesday finished second with a time of 2. Stay on :40:51.
This is the fifth national record in sports, and third in track and field events, after the women’s and men’s pole vault national scores by Rosie Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) and Siva Subramaniam (Services), respectively.
The other two national records were in weightlifting competition.
The 35 km race was introduced in India last year in the wake of World Athletics’ decision to do away with the 50 km event after the Tokyo Olympics.
After the program, Babu said, “I will continue to work hard to replicate such times on the international stage as well.”
He was the inaugural champion at the National Open Championship in Warangal last year, when he won 2:46:31.
Though he clocked a quicker time of 2:41:30 at the National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi in April this year, he was unable to keep pace with Junaid Khan, who set the then national record at 2:40:16.
In badminton events Surat, top seeded left-hander Malvika Bansod (Maharashtra) defeated Unnati Hooda (Haryana) 22-20, 21-13 in the first round of women’s singles.
With victories in their first round matches, second seed Akarshi Kashyap (CG) and home favorite Tasneem Mir set up a mouth-watering quarter-final bout.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Arjun Kadhe will take on Manish Suresh Kumar (Tamil Nadu) in the men’s singles final, while Gujarat’s Jeel Desai will face Karnataka’s Sharmada Balu for the women’s singles crown in a contest at the Riverfront Sports Complex in Ahmedabad.
Inputs from PTI