National federation senior athletics championship

National Federation Senior Athletics Championship: Army’s distance runner Sawan Barwal’s prediction of podium finish came true. On his way to the gold medal in the men’s 10,000m he improved meet record and also qualified for the May 27-31 Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea.

Barwal clocked 28:57.13 in the men’s 10,000m on the opening day of the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Championship here at Kochi’s Maharaja’s College Stadium. His performance was better than the previous meet record of 28:57.90 set in 2007 by Surendra Singh in Kolkata.

The AFI (Athletics Federation of India) qualification time in the men’s 10,000m was 29:33.26. “I’m happy to have won a gold medal with a meet record and also booked a berth for the continental competition in May,” Barwal said in the post race interaction.