Gurindervir sets track ablaze

Bengaluru: Before the start of the men’s 100m dash at the Indian Grand Prix 1, anticipation was rife for the battle between Manikanta Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain. 

That script of finding a winner between the top two likely finishers was rejigged by Gurindervir Singh - a challenger to the best sprinters in the country for a while now. 

The 24-year-old Gurindervir not only managed to pip Manikanta to the gold but did so in style by erasing the national record of 10.23 seconds held by the latter. The Punjabi set a new mark of 10.20 sec at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Kengeri, to become the newest fastest Indian male runner. 

Though the Karnataka-born Manikanta went a tad better (10.22 sec) than his own previous NR time, it was only enough to give him a silver on Friday. The two Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre athletes were joined by their academy-mate Borgohain in third place for his effort of 10.43 sec. 

“I have had this goal of creating a national record for quite some time now,” said an elated Gurindervir. 

“I came close way back in 2021 (when the then NR stood at 10.26s) after I ran my personal best of 10.27s. But it wasn’t to be that day. I have always run 100m races with head wind. Today was the first time with some tail wind and I guess that helped a bit in my pursuit of bettering the NR. I’m happy,” said the Jalandhar-born sprinter.  

The times clocked by both Gurindervir and Manikanta on the day helped them qualify for the 26th Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) to be held in Gumi, South Korea between May 27-31. 

In the subsequent women’s 100m race, Telangana’s Nithya Gandhe ran her personal best of 11.41 sec in 100m and 23.36 sec in the 200m to top the podium and make the AAC cut in both events. 

Star attraction Jyothi Yarraji lived up to the expectation of fishing first in the women’s 100m hurdles but failed to set the clock on fire. The Andhra Pradesh girl timed 13.07 sec which was well below her best of 12.78 sec. The hurdler would come back on track later in the day for the women’s 200m competition where she had to be content with a silver behind Gandhe. 

For Karnataka, javelin throwers Shashank Patil (76.23m) and Ramyashree Jain (50.41m) clinched gold in the men’s and women’s events respectively along with sprinter Sneha SS adding a silver in the women’s 100m race. 

Results (only winners and Karnataka medallists): Men: 100m: Gurindervir Singh (Reliance) 10.20s. 

200m: Amlan Borgohain (Reliance) 20.83s. 

100m hurdles: Muhammed Lazan VK (JSW) 14.13s. 

800m: Krishan Kumar (Har) and Mohammed Afsal (Ker) 1:47.09. 

5000m: Gaurav Bhaskar Bhos (Mah) 14:35.29.

Long jump: Vishnu M (TN) 7.73m.  

High jump: Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Mah) 2.23m. 

Javelin throw: Shashank Patil (Kar) 76.23m. 

Shot put: Vishwa Ayyappan Vishwa (TN) 16.40m. 

Pole vault: Kavinraja S (TN) 5.00m. 

Women: 100m: Nithya Gandhe (Tel) 11.41s, 1; Sneha SS (Kar) 11.55s, 2.  

200m: Nithya Gandhe (Tel) 23.36s.

100m hurdles: Jyothi Yarraji (Reliance) 13.07s. 

800m: Huidrom Bhumeshwory (Mnp) 2:06.49.  

5000m: Beby (UP) 16:39.95. 

Long jump: Sandra Babu (JSW) 6.22m

High jump: Abhinaya S Shetty (JSW) 1.83m. 

Javelin throw: Ramyashree Jain (Kar) 50.41m 

Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (Reliance) 4.00m.