Jaiveer beats Asian Games medalist Naveen for gold

Asian Games bronze medalist Naveen Kumar was pushed to second spot by his Army team-mate Jaiveer Singh in the men's 3000m steeplechase on the third and penultimate day of the Federation Cup Athletics Championships here today.
Jaiveer won the race in 8:48.56, leaving Naveen (8:49.38) yards behind. Maharashtra's Sachin took the bronze in 8:58.13 at the Mangala Stadium.
It was a sweet revenge for Jaiveer, who after winning back-to-back gold medals in 2012 and 2013, lost it to Naveen last year. Both Jaiveer and Naveen (8:49.38) crossed the Athletics Federation of India norm of 8:49.95 set for the Asian Athletics Championships in China (June 3-7).

Two-time national junior champion Maniram Patel, representing Gujarat, finally realised his dream of winning a gold medal in the Federation Cup as he finished first in 20km race walk in 1:29:51. Having won a bronze medal in 2012 at Patiala, Maniram finished outside the podium in subsequent two editions held at the same venue.
Kuldeep Singh (Tata Motors) came second in 1:31:04, nine seconds faster than the bronze medalist Ankit Kumar of Indian Navy.
Haryana girl Preeti Lamba won her maiden national title in women's 3000m steeplechase in 10:48.86. On the opening day, she had won a bronze medal in 5000m. Pre-race favourite Nandini Gupta of Uttar Pradesh settled for silver (10:58.76) while Tamil Nadu got a bronze medal through S Padmavathy (11:30.50).

Neeraj Kumar of Indian Navy and Ritu Dhiman of Uttar Pradesh won the hammer throw gold in men's and women's sections respectively with efforts of 64.53m and 58.30m.
Tamil Nadu's Jayaraj Preeth clinched the gold in pole vault by scaling 4.90m, ahead of local lad P Balakrishna and Krishna Prasath (Tata Motors).
Hosts Karnataka continued to lead the table with 84.5 points, followed by Army (68.5 points), Kerala (60) and defending champions Tamil Nadu (53).