Bangalore
Vithya Ramaraj broke a 39-year-old meet record with a brilliant performance in the women’s 400m hurdles at the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here.
Vithya (56.23 seconds) broke the meet record set by P.T. Usha (56.80 seconds) in 1985. “P.T. Usha is a great athlete. Her meet record has stood for many years. My coach wanted me to break this long-standing record. He wanted my name to be included in the record list,” said Vithya, who won a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2022 Asian Games.
Adding a little extra motivation, Vithya’s coach Nehpal Singh promised his pupil a five-day holiday if she managed to run under 57 seconds. “I will use this holiday to spend time with my parents in Coimbatore. I haven’t seen them for a year,” Vithya said.
In the men’s 200m race, Tamil Nadu’s Nithin (20.66 seconds) set a new meet record. The old record was held by Animesh Kujur (20.74 seconds). Ancy Sojan won the women’s long jump and was declared the best female athlete. Ancy’s jump of 6.71m was just behind the meet record of Anju Bobby George (6.74m, 2002).
