Karnataka sprinter Manikanta Hoblidhar overcame stomach cramps to win the 100m gold medal, becoming the fastest male athlete at the National Open Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, on Friday.
He clocked 10.25 seconds to win the top prize and defended his title from last year, but fell short of improving his own meet record of 10.19 seconds set last year.
“I was pretty confident about improving my personal best here in Delhi, but I missed out because of stomach cramps,” the Karnataka sprinter said.
“I am happy with my performance as I have been undergoing rehab since April this year.”
The star sprinter had missed out on the Commonwealth and Asian Games because of an injury and now returned with a season best on his first and only 100m race of the year.
He was also disappointed that, because of his injury, India couldn’t send a men’s 4x100m team, which could have been a medal prospect for the nation.
Earlier in the morning session, it was heartbreak for SSCB race walker Servin Sebastian. Sebastian crossed the line first in the men’s 20km race walk, but a two-minute penalty for a technical rules violation dashed his hopes of winning gold.
He eventually dropped to fourth place with a time of 1:32:46.00. Suraj Pawar was declared the winner in the men’s half marathon race walk.
(With inputs from PTI )