2022 National Games: Several records tumble on day 1 of athletics 

Medal winners of women’s high jump event during the National Games on Friday in Gujarat. Photo credit SAI
Medal winners in women’s high jump event at the 2022 National Games. Photo credit SAI

Several records were erased on the opening day of the track and field event at the 36th National Games taking place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Friday.

The oldest National Games record that tumbled was in the men’s 1500m. Parvej Khan of Services won the gold medal with a time of 3:40.89, which was better than the previous record of 3:43.57, set by Bahadur Prasad at the Pune National Games in 1994.

In fact, all top four finishers in the race clocked better times than the previous National Games record. Uttar Pradesh's Ajay Kumar Saroj won silver with a time of 3:41.58, while Arjun Waskale of Madhya Pradesh took bronze with a timing of 3:42.31.

The men’s 20km race walk title went to Devender Singh of Services. His winning time was 1:26.25. Munita Prajapati won the women’s 20km race walk gold with a time of 1:38.20.

Archana Suseendran of Tamil Nadu was the fastest runner in the preliminary round of the women’s 100m. She clocked 11.41 seconds.

Assam’s Amlan Borgohain was the fastest runner in the men’s 100m semis. He clocked 10.28 secs. The men and women’s 100m final is scheduled for Saturday.

The women's 1500m title went to Chanda KM of Delhi. She clocked 4:19.59. Ankita of Uttarakhand was a close second with 4:19.86, while Deeksha KM of Madhya Pradesh was third with a time of 4:20.94.

The women’s 400m heat saw Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra erasing KM Beenamol’s record of 52.71 clocked at the Ludhiana National Games in 2001. Aishwarya led the chart in the women’s 400m with a time of 52.50 seconds.

World U20 Athletics Championship medalist Rupal Chaudhary clocked 53.38 secs to top the second heat of the day. The top finishers in the second heat were below 54 secs, indicating that the final scheduled to be held on Saturday will be interesting.

Field events at 2022 National Games: Day 1

In the men’s hammer throw, Damneet Singh of Punjab won gold at a distance of 67.62m. His performance was better than the game record of 66.79m set by Harvinder Singh in 2011.

Nitesh Poonia of Rajasthan won silver with a throw of 67.27m, Niraj Kumar of Services won bronze with a distance of 65.25m.

In the women's high jump, Swapna Barman, the 2018 Asian Games champion in heptathlon, representing Madhya Pradesh at the 36th National Games, marginally improved the game's record by clearing the 1.83m height. Bobby Aloysius had set the previous record of 1.82m in 2001.

Praveen Chithravel of Tamil Nadu won gold in the men’s triple jump with a distance of 16.68m to better the games record of 16.66m, set by Renjith Maheswary in 2015.

In the women’s shot put, Kiran Baliyan of Uttar Pradesh recorded a throw of 17.14m to better Harbans Kaur's record of 16.54m set in 1999.

Quick Links

Edited by Akshay Saraswat