National Games: Services, Punjab dominate on day two

Amrit Singh. Photo: S. Mahinsha

 Services and Punjab dominated the proceedings in the men’s section while Deborah of Andaman and Nicobar was the standout performer in the women’s category on the second day of the cycling competitions of the National Games here on Wednesday.

Manjeet Singh led a Services sweep in 4000m individual pursuit, clocking 4:57.926 for a new meet record bettering Sarabjit Singh’s 13-year-old mark (5:01.010) set in 2002. His teammates Sombir and Amit Kumar took the silver and bronze respectively.

1-2-3 for Punjab

Punjab made it a 1-2-3 in the 1000m time trial with Amrit Singh breaking Kulbir Singh’s 13-year-old record with a timing of 1:09.111 seconds.

Amrit, who finished seventh in the Asian cycling championship recently, adjusted well to the bumpy track compared to the other cyclists en route to the new meet record.

The marquee event of the day was the women’s 500m time trial which witnessed keen competition between internationals Deborah and Kerala’s Kezia Verghese.

The Kerala girl first broke the existing record with a timing of 0:37.984 seconds.

However, within five minutes Deborah rewrote it with a scintillating performance clocking 0:37.680s which bettered Ch. Rameshwori Devi’s mark of 0:39.244 established in Ludhiana in 2001.

Incidentally, Rameshwori finished third in 0:40.860s.

T.P. Anjitha of Kerala defeated favourite Abe Devi of Manipur to win the 3000m individual pursuit gold.

In a close contest Anjitha’s all-out effort in the last lap helped her clinch the issue. 

The results:

Men: 4000m individual pursuit: 1. Manjeet Singh (SSCB, 4:57.926- NMR ; OR: 5:01.010, Sarabjit Singh- Hyderabad, 2002), 2. Sombir (SSCB, 5:05.212), 3. Amit Kumar (SSCB, 5:06.625).

1000m time trial: 1. Amrit Singh (Pun, 1:09.111- NMR ; OR: 1:09.671, Kulbir Singh, Hyderabad, 2002); Amarjith Singh (Pun, 1:10.136), 3. Gurbaj Singh (Pun, 1:11.679).

Women: 500m time trial: Deborah (A&N, 37.680- NMR ; OR: 39.244, Ch. Rameswori Devi, Ludhiana, 2001), 2. Kezia Verghese (Ker, 37.984), 3. Ch. Rameshwori Devi (Man, 0:40.860).

3000m individual pursuit: 1. T.P. Anjitha (Ker, 4:22.213), 2. R.K. Abe Devi (Man, 4:23.023), 3. Rutuja Satpute (Mah, 4:23.630).