Patiala: Ankit Malik of Maharishi Dayanand University of Rohtak secured a distance double by clinching 10,000m gold with a new meet mark of 30:05.76 on the fifth and penultimate day of 74th All India Inter-University Athletics Championships here today.
Ankit, who won the 5,000m race on the opening day, improved upon Suresh Kumar's three-year-old 10,000m meet record time of 30:12.40. The day's proceedings in Punjabi University Sports Complex also witnessed the maiden appearance of 3,000m steeplechase in the inter-university programme.
National junior record-holder Parul Chaudhary (Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut) won the inaugural women's race in a time of 11:03.43 while the men's gold went to hosts Punjabi University's Deep Chand in 9:36.20.
Thrower Navjeet Kaur (Guru Nanak Dev) was the second athlete to complete a 'double' today as she won the shot put gold with an effort of 13.69m. She had won the discus throw gold with a personal best 51.23m on the opening day.
N V Sheena and Silpa Chacko made it 1-2 for Mahatma Gandhi University (Kottayam) in women's triple jump. Delhi varsity boy and former Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Arjun humbled the rest of the field by taking the discus gold with a throw of 52.59m. However, he failed in his bid to erase Kirpal Singh's meet mark of 54.44m.
Hosts Punjabi University continued their fine show as Parveen Kumar (Pole Vault, 4.70m) and Sonu (women's High Jump, 1.71m) won gold.
