Olympian Sudha Singh may have been surprised at her timings in the 3000m steeplechase event at the inter-state athletics meet in Chennai,but it was a happy one. Her timing of 9min:45.60sec not only bettered her own national record,but also earned her a slot in the World Championship. Sudhas previous best and the national record until Thursday,was her timing of 9:47.70 that she set in Spain last year. Talking to The Indian Express soon after her record breaking run,the UP athlete confided,I had never thought I would make the new national mark here. I knew that I had the potential to improve on my existing national record but maybe at the international level. There,the chances of improvement in timings are far much better because of the good fight given by the other international athletes. Had I got a better fight today,the timings could have been even better. My joy is doubled owing to the fact that I have qualified for the World Championships as its B qualifying standard is 9:48.00 which I have easily achieved. Kiran Tiwari (Haryana,10:32.94) and Priyanka Patel (UP,10:45.32) stood second and third,respectively,in the event. Sudha said her success was down to the specific training imparted by her coach JS Bhatia. Bhatia sir is very particular about training. At the camp in Bangalore,he makes sure that we practise hard. It was so rigorous that we did not often return home,but it was beneficial in the long run, she said. Had it not been for a fever,she said she would have bettered her timings even earlier. In the Federation Cup in April,though I was able to break my meet record,my timing was 10:13.83 because I had just recovered from fever then. Sudha said she would use the heightened competition at the Asian Championship to try and make the A qualifying standards. My immediate aim is winning in the upcoming Asian championships at Pune. I hope to attain the A qualifying for the Worlds there, she said. Results: Men: 4X100M Relay: 1. Kerala (Anuroop John,Rengith K.G,Shameer Mon,Rahul G.Pillai) NMR 40.49 secs,2. Tamil Nadu (Balamurgan,Sathya,Manikandan,Arumugam Vijay Kumar) 41.21s,3. Punjab (Kulwant Singh,Maninder Singh,Gurlal Singh,Hussandeep Siingh) 42.23 sec. 3000M Steeplechase: 1. Jaiveer (Har) 8:54.42sec,2. Naveen Kumar (Har) 8:56.00sec,3. Karamvir (Raj) 9:00.42sec. High Jump: 1. Jithin C.Thomas (Ker) 2.17m,2. Nikhil Chittarasu (TN) 2.17m,3. Sreenith Mohan (Ker) 2.09m. 20,000m Walk: 1.Babu Bhai Panucha (Guj) 1:28.07.20 secs,2. Surinder Siingh (Pun) 1:28.32.60 secs,3. Ganapathy (TN) 1:30.08.10 secs. Pole Vault: 1. Parveen Kumar (Har) 4.90m,2. P.Balakrishna (Karnataka) 4.85m,3. Sonu Saini (Har) 4.75m Women: 4X100M Relay: 1. Kerala (Neethu Ranjan,S.Sini,P.K.Priya,Merlin K.Joseph) 46.77 secs,2. Bengal (Ruma Sarkar,Debashree Majumdar,Priyanka Mondal,Asha Roy) 47.05 secs,3. Tamil Nadu (K.Arthi,G.Gayathry,J.Hemasree,Sharadha Narayana) 47.49 secs. 3000M Steeplechase: 1.Sudha Singh (UP) NR-9:45.60secs,2.Kiran Tiwari (Har) 10:32.94s, 3.Priyanka Patel (UP) 10:45.32s. 20,000M Walk: 1.Deep Mala Devi (Jharkhand): 44.20.00 secs,2. Rani Yadav (UP) 1:46.59.40 secs,3. Ranjana Gupta (MP) 1:50.02.20 secs. Hammer throw: 1.Manju Bala (Rajasthan) 56.84m,2.Gunjan Singh (UP) 54.45m,3.P.Savitha (MP) 52.28m. Triple Jump: 1.Mayookha Johny (Ker) 13.58m,2. N.V.Sheena (Ker) 13.17m,3.Amitha Baby (Chattishgarh) 12.84m.
