Kuldev Singh and Joseph G. Abraham, Guangzhou Asian Games gold medallist, are good friends but fierce competitors on track.
The 28-year-old from Punjab, chose the athletic competition of the National Games to upset his more fancied opponent in the men's 400m hurdles, that too, in a meet record time of 50.31.
Kuldev erased the mark set by Andhra Pradesh's P. Shankar (51.37) in the Hyderabad Games. Kuldev had the added satisfaction of getting the gold medal from M.S. Dhoni, the Indian cricket team captain.
Arpinder Singh (Punjab) bagged the men's triple jump gold with a Games record of 16.62m. His state-mate Amarjeet Singh, representing host Jharkhand, pushed national record holder Renjith Maheswary (Kerala) to third spot by just 1 cm (16.10m to 16.09m).
Running on the fifth lane, Joseph had a slight jerk at the start, but quickly recovered when the race was half-way through. Towards the home-stretch, Kuldev caught up with Joseph. Still ahead, the Kerala hurdler, surprisingly, slowed down a wee bit.
O.P. Jaisha, representing Punjab, won the women's 1500m comfortably, beating runners of the calibre of Sushma Devi and S.R. Bindhu. Sushma finished second, while Jhuma Khatoon was third. Jaisha, bronze medallist in 1500m in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, is representing Punjab instead of her home-state Kerala. “I am unhappy because despite winning 43 international medals from 2005-‘11, the Kerala State Government has not given me the prestigious G.V. Raja Award,” she said.
The results : Men: 400m hurdles : 1. Kuldev Singh (Pun) 50.31 ( NMR ) (OR: P. Shankar (AP), 51.37, 2002; 2. Joseph Abraham (Ker) 50.38; 3. Satinder Singh (Pun) 50.39; Discus throw : 1. Vikas Poonia (Raj) 53.47, 2. Kirpal Singh (Pun) 51.59, 3. Anshu Rai (UP) 51.35; 1500m : 1. Sandeep Karan Singh (SSCB) 3:48.05, 2. Ravinder S Rautela (Uttaranchal) 3:48.47, 3. Sajeesh Joseph (Ker) 3:48.91; Triple jump : 1. Arpinder Singh (Pun) 16.62m ( NMR ) (OR: Alex Thomas (SSCB) 16.45m, '02; 2. Amarjeet Singh (Jhar) 16.10; 3. Renjith Maheswary (Ker) 16.09; High jump : 1. Hari Shankar Roy (Jhar) 2.13m, 2. Jithin Thomas (SSCB) 2.13, 3. Benedict Starli (TN) 2.13m.
Women: 400m hurdles : 1. Elavarasi Rajan (AP) 1:0.17, 2. Anu Raghavan (Ker) 1:0.69, 3. K.A. Soniya (Jhar) 1:0.75; 1500m : 1. O.P. Jaisha (Pun) 4:24.14, 2. Sushma Devi (Har) 4:25.69, 3. Jhuma Khatoon (Jhar) 4:27.07; Heptathlon : 1. Navpreet Kaur (Pun) 5079 pts, 2. K.D. Sindhu (Ker) 4844, 3. D. Karpuramala (TN) 4728.
