Lucknow. It is a big achievement for Uttar Pradesh in the 62nd National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships that began in Odisha.Distance runners Karthik Kumar and Gulveer Singh on Thursday achieved the qualification time for the Hangzhou Asian Games in the men’s 10,000 meters race. The 62nd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship is being organized in Bhubaneswar. The qualification time for the Hangzhou Asian Games is 29:30.00. Both Karthik and Gulveer did better than this. Karthik clocked 29:01.84 to win the gold, while Gulveer finished second in 29:03.78.
Meet record also improved
Karthik Kumar, a resident of Saharanpur, said after qualifying for the international event, “My next target is to win a medal in the Asian Games.” Karthik and Gulveer, both residents of Meerut, also bettered the previous meet record of 29:06.17 seconds. This record was made in 2007 by Olympian Surendra Singh. Surendra Singh is currently overseeing the national camp in Bengaluru.
Priyanka Goswami won silver medal in 20 kilometer walk
Another runner from Uttar Pradesh, Abhishek Pal, who was the pre-race favourite, left the race with nine laps to go due to abdominal cramps. “I lost my chance to qualify for the Asian Games,” she said. Meanwhile, Olympian race walker Priyanka Goswami had to settle for a silver medal in the 20 km race walk. The Meerut girl clocked 1:40:33.00 to lead Rajasthan Bhavna Jat secured the second position behind. Bhawna Jat topped the list with a timing of 1:37:03.00 seconds. Karnataka’s Vandana finished third with 1:41:54.00 seconds.