Dutee Chand made a firm statement of her form and fitness here on Wednesday.
The teenager from Odisha, out on a reprieve handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport which allows her to participate in domestic meets after she was suspended due to hyperandrogenism prior to the last year’s Commonwealth Games, proved to be in fine fettle as she raced down the track to win the 100m gold medal at the University stadium.
Her winning time of 11.76s also marked a new meet record though it would not be until March 26 that a final decision on her future would be taken by the Lausanne-based CAS.
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It was virtually a one-horse race as the 19-year-old got off to great start and kept up the pace with fluent strides and acceleration to leave V. Santhini (Kerala) and Rashmi Sheregar (Maharashtra) far behind.
Suman spears a new record The night was filled up with new meet marks as V.S. Surekha (Tamil Nadu) defied gravity to find a new high of 4.00m in the pole vault and Suman Devi (Uttar Pradesh) eclipsed Gurmeet Kaur’s javelin mark, to defend her Ranchi title, with an effort of 56.53m.
In the morning, there was a new record when Sapna (Rajasthan) completed the 20km walk in 1:40:35.70 as against the old mark of 1:41:08.00.
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Anilda Thomas (Kerala) confidently strode to a morale-boosting win in 400m with an impressive time of 52.71s and match K.M. Beenamol’s existing record.
There was also another 1-2 for the host as V. Neena led the favourite M.A. Prajusha and Bhumika Thakur (Punjab) in the long jump.
More action, records There were some more action and records in the men’s section as Dharambir (Haryana), who in 2012 was in the centre of a controversy after ducking a mandatory dope test, scrambled home in10.42s in the 100m to take P. Anil Kumar’s name off the books and Arokia Rajeev (Services) scorched home in 46.40s in the 400m, to clip Paramjit Singh’s existing mark by 0.57s.
The other gold to be decided in the men’s section was taken by Ravinder Singh (Uttarakhand), as he outkicked favourite Sajeesh Joseph (Kerala) and Sandeep (Haryana) to a pleasing win in the 1500m with a 3:51.96.
The results:
Men: 100m: 1. Dharambir (Har), 10,46s (NMR, Old: 10.52s), 2. Amiya Kumar (Odi), 10.64s, 3. Krishnakumar Rane (Mah), 10.65s.
400m: 1. Arokia Rajeev (Ser) 46.40s (NMR, OR: 46.97s), 2. Lalit Mathur (Har), 47.04s, 3. Chandan Bauri (Ben), 47.41s.
1500m: 1. Ravinder Singh (Utk), 3:51.96s, 2. Sajeesh Joseph (Ker), 3:52.08, 3. Sandeep (Har), 3:52.25.
Discus: 1. Dharamraj (Ser), 57.44m, 2. Arjun (Har), 56.85m, 3. Baljinder Singh (Pun), 52.40m.
20km walk: 1. Baljinder Singh (Pun), 1:26:24.20s, 2. Chandan Singh (Ser), 1:26:29.00, 3.Gurmeet Singh (Utk), 1:27:44.40.
Women: 100m: 1. Dutee Chand (Odi), 11.76s, 2. V. Santhini (Ker), 11.84s, 3. Rashmi Sheregar (Mah), 11.87s.
400m: 1. Anilda Thomas (Ker), 52.71s, 2. Anu Raghavan (Ker), 54.38s, 3. Nirmala (Har), 55.19s.
Long jump: 1. V. Neena (Ker), 6.39m, 2. M.A. Prajusha (Ker), 6.25m, 3. Bhumika Thakur (Pun), 6.23m.
Pole vault: 1. V.S. Surekha (TN), 4.00m (NMR, OR: 3.85m), 2. K.C. Dija (Ker), 3.60m, 3. Sinju Prakash (Ker), 3.40m.
Javelin: 1. Suman Devi (UP), 56.53m (NMR; OR: 53.30m), 2. Annu Rani (UP), 53.84m, 3. Rupinder Kaur (Pun), 51.27m.
20km walk: 1. Sapna (Raj), 1:40:35.70s (NMR; OR: 1:41:08.00), 2. Rani Yadav (UP), 1:43.4880, 3. Priyanka (UP), 1:46:19.00.