Tamil arasu

State Senior Athletics Championships: The first day of the 64th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships saw records tumble in the women's 5000m and in men's pole vault as the event got underway on a positive note at Jawaharlal Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was Seema, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, who powered to gold in the women’s 5000m, clocking 15:42.64 to eclipse the previous meet record of 15:46.92 set by L. Suriya in 2017. Ravina Gayakwad (16:53.24) and Sanghamitra Mahata (18:04.36) finished second and third, respectively.

The women’s 5000m national record of 15:10.35 belongs to Parul Chaudhary, who is not competing at the Inter-State Championships. Seema's time was nowhere close to Parul's record, which was still a confidence booster for her for the upcoming events in the season.