 Kochi: Sudha Singh of Railways stole the limelight winning the women's 3000m steeplechase gold and bettering her own national and meet records on the penultimate day of the 50th National Open Athletics Championship on May 17.
Twenty-four year old Sudha got off to a flying start and kept the momentum up to win the gold in record time of 10:09.56 secs, bettering her own national record of 10:10.77 secs set in 2009 and meet mark of 10:18.76 secs set in 2007.
The other highlight was the new meet record by lanky Elam Singh of Services in men's 3000m steeplechase as he clocked 8:39.18 secs. The earlier meet of 8:40.05 secs was set by Gopal Saini of Railways in 1984.
Defending champions Railways continued their domination by taking their medal tally to 39, with 15 golds, 10 silvers and 14 bronze, followed by Tamil Nadu with nine medals -- 4 golds, silver and four bronze. Railways men have bagged 7 golds, 4 silvers and four bronze while their women garnered eight gold, six silver and 10 bronze as they assured of the overall as well as the men and women team championship titles.
Another notable performer was Tamil Nadu's promising Gayathri, who completed a double gold by winning the 100m Hurdles with a time of 13.88 secs. The 19-year old Chennai girl had on Sunday won the triple jump gold.
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