National Games: Ram Baboo breaks national record in men's 35km race walk

Baboo, an unemployed physical education graduate, won the event in 2 hours 36 minutes 34 seconds, bettering the earlier national record of 2:40.16, which was in the name of Haryana's Juned Khan who finished second on Tuesday with a time of 2:40.51. It is the fifth national record set at the Games, and the third in track and field events, after the women's and men's pole vault national marks by Rosy Meena Paulraj (Tamil Nadu) and Siva Subramaniam (Services) respectively. The other two national records were in weightlifting competition.

The 35km race walk event was introduced in India only last year in the wake of World Athletics' decision to do away with the 50km event after the Tokyo Olympics. "I will keep working hard to replicate such time on an international platform too," Baboo said after the event. He was the inaugural champion in the National Open Championships in Warangal last year when he won in 2:46:31.00.

Though he clocked a faster time of 2:41:30.00 in the National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi in April this year, he was unable to match strides with Juned Khan who set the then national record at 2:40:16.00. In the weightlifting arena, Uttar Pradesh's Purnima Pandey overcame a stiff back and clinched gold in the women's +87kg class. Purnima, who finished sixth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, did enough to take the top spot with a total lift of 215kg, with 95kg in snatch and 120kg in clean and jerk.