Ankit shocks stars, runs to 10,000m gold

Ankit Kumar wins 10,000m gold; Sajan Prakash sets meet record in 200m butterfly; Kerala win beach football title. #NationalGames #AnkitKumar #SajanPrakash #Kerala #Gold #Record #BeachFootball

Ankit Kumar had never won a major medal in national athletics. And, the men’s 10,000m in the 37th National Games at the Bambolim Athletics Stadium here on Wednesday night had some top names, including the Asian Games bronze medallist Gulveer Singh and Asian Championship bronze medallist Abhishek Pal.

But Ankit did not let that trouble himd. He ran a cool race and somewhere around the 10th lap broke into a strong lead. Shortly after that, he looked back a few times to check whether the others were anywhere close. And when he realised that they were far back, he grew in confidence and kept extending his lead and won by nearly a 200m margin.

“I had prepared well for this race, I had not bothered about the others,” said the 22-year-old who hails from the hilly Pauri in Uttarakhand. Abhishek and Gulveer took silver and bronze.

Meanwhile, Kerala’s N.V. Sheena completed a hat-trick of National Games triumphs in the women’s triple jump — her first came in the Thiruvananthapuram in 2015 — State-mate Nayana James took the silver.

Later many eyebrows were raised when quartermiler M.R. Poovamma, who was under a two-year doping ban that should have ended in June 2024, ran in the women’s 4x400m relay final. She had run in the Sri Lankan National championship in July this year when the National Anti-Doping Agency had lifted her suspension. But in September, the NADA admitted that it was a mistake and her ban was back.

Adille Sumariwalla, the AFI president, confirmed to The Hindu that Poovamma’s suspension was over.

Tanya Chaudhary set the day’s lone record, in the women’s hammer throw.