Sandeep puts SL in the shade

Sandeep Singh was beaming from ear to ear after he became the first sprinter from the young team fielded by India at the South Asian Senior Athletics Championships to get one better over the Sri Lankans. The 27-year-old, who hails from Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh, clocked 21.23 seconds to edge out Rajamuni Indusara on Sunday. India’s Prathik Maharana won the bronze medal.

The last day of the competition saw both India and Sri Lanka win eight gold medals each. However, India finished on top of the medal tally with 58 medals — 20 gold, 20 silver and 18 bronze — to win the bragging rights in the Indian subcontinent.

In the 200m men’s sprint final, it seemed that the Lankans would once again dominate but Sandeep had other ideas. Sandeep’s first position finish was the only gold medal win for the hosts as the Islanders cleaned up all the available sprint gold in the 100m and 200m in both individual and relay competitions. The 27-year-old Army Havaldar said his feat was not that special as all his teammates tried their best. “I don’t think I did better than my teammates. We have fielded a young team here while Sri Lanka fielded its full team. So under the circumstances we have done well,” he said.

“I am happy with the gold medal, although I am not satisfied with my overall performance. My personal best timing is 20.95 seconds but because of the pleasant weather here my body was not warmed up but nonetheless I am proud of today’s win,” he added.

Ruchit Mori started the Indian gold push as he raced to win the 400m hurdles gold with a new meet record of 50.10 seconds. The previous best of 50.72s was held by P Shankar. What Ruchit started, Neeru Pathak finished as she raced past Sri Lanka’s Harini at the last bend to win the women’s 4x400m final gold medal for India.

In other significant results, Sri Lanka’s star javelin thrower and national record holder Rumesh Pathirage won the gold medal with a best attempt of 84.29m. India’s Uttam Patel finished third with a best attempt of 76.30m.