National Indoor Athletics Championships: Gurindervir Singh Claims 60m Title, Reegan Breaks Pole Vault Best

Ace Punjab sprinter Gurindervir Singh claimed the men's 60m gold in a national record time after pre-race favourite Animesh Kujur was disqualified in a dramatic final on the concluding day of the inaugural National Indoor Athletics Championships here on Wednesday.

In a fitting end to the two-day championships, the men's 60m final race lived up to the expectations, as Gurindervir, who was representing Reliance Foundation, emerged as the fastest runner of the meet.

The 25-year-old Gurindervir, a former 100m outdoor national record holder, clocked 6.60 seconds to better the earlier national indoor best of 6.67 seconds which has been in the name of Elakiya Dasan of Tamil Nadu since 2018.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI), however, does not maintain an official list of national indoor records.

The race saw three false starts, with the third leading to local runner Animesh being shown a red card, much to the stunned silence of the sizable crowd at the 17,000-seater, state-of-the-art indoor facility at the Kalinga Stadium complex.

Animesh, the national 100m and 200m outdoor national record holder, was seen speaking to the race officials before leaving the field of play disappointed.

Lalu Prasad Bhoi of Odisha was second with 6.65 seconds while Nuzrat of Haryana was third with 6.71 seconds.

Besides Animesh, the two others who were disqualified for false starts were Dondapati Mrutyam of Odisha and Nehal Sagar of Karnataka.

Gurindervir said later that he pleaded with the race officials to let Animesh run under protest, a request which would not have been possible under rules.

"He (Animesh) did a false start. I thought if he runs, I will also run better as there would be tough competition. The crowd was also his. It would have been better if he had run,” said Gurindervir.

“So I was saying to the race officials that let him run under protest.” Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s C Reegan won the gold in the men’s pole vault event with the national indoor best performance of 5.30m. He went for the national record (outdoor and indoor combined) but failed to clear 5.41m in three attempts.

Dev Meena’s one-year-old national record of 5.40m remained intact.

There is no official national record in indoor events recognised by the Athletics Federation of India since this is the inaugural national championships and only a few Indians compete outside the country.

Competing in his maiden indoor event, the 24-year-old Reegan opened with 4.95m and then 5.10m, before progressing to 5.20m and 5.30m.

“I just wanted to execute my plans. I am a little bit disappointed as I could not do the national record but I am improving. It’s a great experience,” said Reegan who joined the Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre here in June last year.

“I can do better next time. I was training in Chennai for five years before joining Reliance.” His coach Milber Bertrand Russell said Reegan was not used to the pole he used while going for the national record.

“That pole he used to clear 5:30m can’t do the next height. It’s of a shorter length of 4.75m. We changed the pole. He used a longer pole of 4.90m length for the three attempts for the national record,” Milber said.

“But he was using that longer pole for the first time.”

Milber was also the coach of another Tamil Nadu pole vaulter, Baranica Elangovan who set a new national record on the opening day on Tuesday.