Sport - Athletics

Renjith breaks M.S. Gill’s record

GUWAHATI: Triple jumper Renjith Maheswary broke through the barrier in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix circuit at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.

In the process of posting the first 17-metre jump by an Indian, Renjith bettered the oldest National record, that of 16.79m by Mohinder Singh Gill in Freseno, U.S., on May 9, 1971.

“Now I have the World championships qualification as well as the Beijing Olympics qualifying mark (16.80),” said an elated Renjith.

Renjith has now scored back-to-back victories over Asian Games champion Li Yanxi of China, who incidentally finished third. His 17.04m effort came in the fourth round.

The results: 3,000m: 1. Surender Singh (Ind) 7:57.87; 2. Sunil Kumar (Ind) 8:15.20; 3. Chaminda Wijekoon (Sri) 8:30.59; Triple jump: 1. Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 17.04 (NR, previous 16.79); 2. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.76; 3. Li Yanxi (Chn) 16.70; 4x400m relay: 1. Sri Lanka 3:07.82; 2. Malaysia 3:10.61; 3. Thailand 3:10.63.