Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH :

Parvej clocked 3:40.89 to leave Bahadur Prasad’s 1994 National Games mark of 3:43.57 behind.

Gandhinagar, Gujarat:

Parvej Khan improved upon Bahadur Prasad’s 28-year-old record to win the men’s 1500m event in the athletics arena of the National Games  at the IIT campus here on Friday.

Parvej clocked 3:40.89 to leave Bahadur’s 1994 mark of 3:43.57 behind.

In the absence of Abdulla Aboobacker, Praveen Chithravel stole the limelight by setting a new Games record and winning the men’s triple jump title. The Tamil Nadu jumper leaped to 16.68m to erase Ranjith Maheshwary’s 2015 mark of 16.66m.

“After the Commonwealth Games I was not training with full intensity. But I wanted to finish well here. The presence of Eldhose Paul and Aboobacker would have pushed me,” said Praveen.

Altogether six Games records were made on the opening day of the athletics events.

The results (winners only):

Men:

1500m: Parvej Khan (SSCB) 3:40.89 (GR, old 3:43.57, Bahadur Prasad, Pune, 1994); Triple Jump: Praveen Chithravel (TN) 16.68m (GR, old 16.66m, Renjith Maheshwary, Thiruvananthapuram, 2015); Hammer throw: Damneet Singh (Pun) 67.62m (GR, old 66.79, Harvinder Singh, Ranchi, 2011); 20km race walk: Devender Singh (SSCB) 1:26:25.00.

Women:

1500m: K.M. Chanda (Del) 4:19.59; High jump: Swapna Barman (MP) 1.83m (GR, old 1.82m, Bobby Aloysius, Ludhiana, 2001); Shot put: Kiran Baliyan (UP) 17.14m (GR, old 16.54m, Harbans Kaur, Imphal, 1999); Hammer throw: Sarita Romit Singh (UP) 61.03m; 20km race walk: Munita Prajapati (UP) 1:38:20.00 (GR, old 1:40:35.0, Sapna, Thiruvananthapuram, 2015).