Kochi, Apr 21 (PTI) Railways runner Pranav Pramod sprinted to a surprise gold, stunning pre-race favourites to win the men’s 100m dash and emerge as the fastest man of the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition here on Monday.

The 23-year-old, who had also won a silver medal in the Uttarakhand National Games in February, crossed the finish line in a creditable 10.27 seconds to steal the spotlight on the opening day of the four-day event.

Pramod improved upon his National Games silver-winning time of 10.32 seconds but missed the Asian Championships qualifying time of 10.25 seconds set by Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Animesh Kujur of Odisha and Manikanta Hoblidhar of Karnataka finished second and third, clocking 10.32 seconds and 10.35 seconds.

Reliance athlete Gurindervir Singh, who holds the national record of 10.20 seconds, was not in his elements as he fell behind quite early in the final race to finish eighth and last with a modest time of 11.21 seconds. He was seen holding his left hand in apparent pain after finishing the race.

The quartet of Singh, Kujur, Hoblidhar and Amlan Borgohain — who finished fourth with 10.41 seconds — has been dominating the 100m sprint event for some time in the national events, before Pramod broke their monopoly on Monday.

In men’s javelin final, Sachin Yadav of Police Sports Control Board proved his credentials as a bright prospect in an event made famous by superstar Neeraj Chopra as he won the gold with a throw of 83.86m which he achieved in fifth attempt.

Yadav would be a strong contender to take part in the Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin competition, a World Athletics Category A event the superstar himself is hosting in Bengaluru on May 24, as three to four Indians are set to take part in the inaugural edition of the meet. The 25-year-old Yadav had won gold at the Uttarakhand National Games, where he had twisted his ankle after his best throw of 84.39m in February. He returned to action earlier this month at the Indian Open Athletics Meeting in Ranchi, where he had finished second with a modest throw of 70.62m.

On Monday, the top seven throwers dipped below the Asian qualification mark of 75.36m set by the AFI. Yashvir Singh (80.85m) of Railways and Sahil Silwal (77.84m) of Reliance finished second and third respectively.

Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena (77.82m) continued his slide as he finished fourth.

Meanwhile, Telangana’s Nithya Gandhe emerged as the the fastest female runner of the meet. Her winning time was 11.50 seconds. Abinaya Rajarajan (11.54 seconds) of Tamil Nadu and Sneha SS (11.62 seconds) of Karnataka were second and third respectively.

In the morning session, Army distance runner Sawan Barwal’s prediction of a podium finish came true. On his way to the gold medal in the men’s 10,000m, he improved the meet record and also breached the Asian Championships qualifying mark.

Barwal clocked 28:57.13 to better previous meet record of 28:57.90 set in 2007 by Surendra Singh in Kolkata.

The AFI’s qualification time in men’s 10,000m is 29:33.26.

“I’m happy to have won a gold medal with a meet record and also breach the qualification mark of the continental competition,” Barwal said in the post race interaction.

“I could have done better in the race, but there was no one to challenge me,” said Barwal, who surged ahead with five laps to go.

Abhishek Pal, representing Railways, won the silver with a time of 29:14.86. Pal also dipped below the Asian Championships qualification time of 29:33.26.

Kiran Matre of the Army claimed the bronze medal. He clocked 29:47.62.

The women’s 10,000m gold went to Maharashtra’s international runner Sanjivani Jadhav whose winning time was 33:44.43.

Sanjivani missed the Asian Championships qualification time of 33:24.79. PTI PDS PDS APA APA