Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar produced one of the highlights of the National Senior Athletics Federation competition after breaking the national pole vault record in a dramatic competition on Sunday. Representing Madhya Pradesh, the two training partners cleared a distance of 5.45m, a mark set recently by Kuldeep Kumar in Bhubaneswar. Despite the two athletes achieving the same height, Dev Kumar Meena won the gold medal by counting rules, while Kuldeep bagged the silver medal. In the pole vault and high jump events, the countdown is used to separate athletes tied at the same height, by determining who cleared the mark in fewer attempts during the competition. The result was a huge milestone for Indian athletics, with both vaulters also comfortably breaching the Athletics Federation of India’s Commonwealth Games qualification standard of 5.25m for the 2026 edition. After the ceremony, Dev Kumar highlighted the healthy rivalry and friendship between the pair. “It was a great day for us and we will continue to push each other to raise the bar even further in the future,” he said. While Saturday’s spotlight belonged mostly to the sprinters, Sunday’s action was dominated by the field events and several impressive performances across disciplines. Murali Srishankar Won gold in the men’s long jump with an effort of 8.08m, eclipsing the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 8.05m. In the men’s high jump, Sarvesh Anil Kushare put up another impressive display to qualify for the Commonwealth Games by clearing a distance of 2.28m to win gold. His jump also equaled the meet record previously set by Tejasun Shankar. Kushare even attempted 2.30m in an attempt to better the national record of 2.29m, but failed to clear the height in all three attempts. Silver medalist Adarsh Ram also cleared the CWG qualification standard after managing 2.22m. Meanwhile, national record holder Tejas Sharse dominated the men’s 110m hurdles final. Representing Reliance, Shirsay clocked 13.50 seconds to win the gold medal and bettered his own meet record of 13.61 seconds, although he fell well short of his Commonwealth Games qualification timing of 13.39 seconds. Earlier in the day, Raveena clinched gold in the women’s 10,000m race walk after clocking 44:29.66 seconds, comfortably under the CWG qualification standard of 44:44.58 seconds. Other gold medalists included Dharamraj Yadav in men’s discus throw and Manpreet Kaur in women’s hammer throw, while Nandhini K won the women’s 100m hurdles title.
