Surekha soars past own National mark

Tamil Nadu's V.S. Surekha rewrote her own National pole vault record on Tuesday. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

For almost a decade, V.S. Surekha has been competing against herself and getting better. The lack of competition was no deterrent for the Chennai-based pole vaulter on Tuesday as she leaped to a new National record of 4.15 metres, bettering her own previous mark by seven centimetres, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Surekha, who trains with P.C. Tyagi at Delhi, went past her previous mark twice in the course of her achievement on the third day of the National Open athletics championships. The Railways employee tried to jump another 10 centimetres but fell short.

“Sir (Tyagi) had set a target of 4.15m for me here and I am happy I could do that. Given that I hardly practised for this event, I am glad I managed to achieve my target,” said Surekha.

K.C. Dija and Karambir Kaur managed an identical leap of 3.60m but the former won silver by virtue of clearing the mark in her first attempt.

Tough going

It wasn’t easy for Surekha, who has to seek special permission from Railways and travel to Delhi every time she has to train. “There are no facilities or coaches in Chennai, so I am completely off training when I am home. There is no Centre for Excellence in Delhi either, so unless there is a National or Railways’ camp, it is difficult for me to have extended training stints here. I do not know what solution can be found,” said the 29-year old, who is married to triple-jumper Renjith Maheshwari.

“The National mark was 3.50m when Surekha started in 2005, so she is getting better. Given that she did not train for almost two years after the Commonwealth Games, I am confident she would be able to reach 4.25m soon, may be even at the upcoming National Games. Our main target at the moment is the Asian Championships next year,” said Tyagi.

Sudha’s meet record

In the 3000m steeplechase, Sudha Singh bettered her own meet mark with a timing of 10 minutes, 8.50 seconds for gold. Asian Games bronze medallist and National record holder Lalita Babar pulled out on the penultimate lap because of lack of fitness and to avoid injury.

“None of us has come here with any preparation, so at the moment we are all equally unfit and fatigued,” admitted Sudha.

In the men’s section, Jaiveer Singh of Services outpaced teammate Naveen Kumar for gold. Naveen, who finished third at Incheon, had met with an accident after Deepavali and was yet to recover completely but still managed to grab bronze.

The results:

Men: 110m hurdles: 1. K. Prem Kumar (Tel, 13.91s), 2. J. Surendhar (TN, 14.21), 3. A. Pinto Mathew (RSPB, 14.29). 3000m steeplechase: 1. Jaiveer Singh (SSCB, 8:53.85), 2. Sachin Patil (RSPB, 8:54.12), 3. Naveen Kumar (SSCB, 9:00.78). Discus throw: 1. Arjun (Har, 56.45m), 2. Dharmaraj (SSCB, 55.62), 3. Vikas Punia (RSPB, 53.17). High jump: 1. S. Harshith (ONGC, 2.17m), 2. Jithin C. Thomas (SSCB, 2.17), 3. Ajay Kumar (Har, 2.14).

Women: 100m hurdles: 1. G. Gayathry (TN, 13.71s), 2. Jaspreet Kaur (Pun, 13.81), 3. K.V. Sajitha (Ker, 13.97). 3000m steeplechase: 1. Sudha Singh (RSPB, 10:08.50), 2. Priyanka Singh (RSPB, 10:35.86), 3. Parul Chaudhary (UP, 10:44.38). Javelin throw: 1. Anu Rani (RSPB, 54.01m), 2. Rupinder Kaur (AIPSCB, 52.26), S. Saraswathy (RSPB, 47.85). Pole vault: 1. V.S. Surekha (RSPB, 4.15m), 2. Dija K.C. (RSPB, 3.60), 3. Kiranbir Kaur (AIPSCB, 3.60).