Vithya narrowly misses P.T. Usha’s 39-year-old record
The Hindu
Vithya Ramraj narrowly missed P.T. Usha's 39-yr-old 400m hurdles record by 0.01s. Priti Lamba clocked a PB of 9:45.13s in 3000m steeplechase, securing a ticket to Asian Games. Winners of 4x100m relay missed Asiad cut by 0.24s & 0.16s respectively. Other events saw Ankesh Chaudhary, Aditya Kumar Singh, Sahib Singh & Tanya Chaudhary win. Bandana Patel & Monika won 10,000m race walk.
A day after her 400m stunner, Vithya Ramraj came close to toppling P.T. Usha’s 39-year-old 400m hurdles national record, missing it by one-hundredth of a second, at the Indian Grand Prix-5 in Chandigarh on Monday.
Vithya, who was in a world of her own in the 400m hurdles, clocked 55.43s as she gave a shiver to Usha’s precious record which came as she narrowly missed the bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Second-placed Sinchal Kaviramma was more than three seconds behind Vithya.
“I thought I’d get the record today, may be I’ll get it at the Asian Games,” said the 24-year-old Vithya who hails from Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, Priti Lamba clocked a personal best of 9:45.13s while claiming the women’s 3000m steeple chase, despite the event attracting just two athletes. This got her a ticket to the Asian Games which begins in Hangzhou, China, later this month.
The winners in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay narrowly missed making the cut for the Asiad, clocking 39.24s (AFI qual. standard 39s) and 44.66s (44.50s) respectively.
The results:
Men: 800m (3 races, overall positions): 1. Ankesh Chaudhary (HP) 1:48.12s, 2. Sree Kiran (TN) 1:48.66, Prakash Gadade (Mah) 1:48.88.
As Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu is all set to take oath as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the fourth time, at Kesarapalle IT Park located near Vijayawada on June 12 (Wednesday), arrangements are underway for a live telecast of the ceremony at eleven places across the Nellore district.
Governor S. Abdul Nazeer has invited the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), to form the government in the State. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at Kesarapalle near here on June 12 (Wednesday). Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of national leaders will take part in the event
Ambassador of Finland to India Kimmo Lähdevirta on Tuesday said Finnish companies “face issues” in Tamil Nadu due to regulations that prevent their participation in tendering processes. Interacting with senior journalists of The Hindu at its head office in Chennai, he said certain regulations imposed by the State government were limiting.