Kerala race walker, K T Neena proved her mettle once again as she improved her national record and defended her title in 5,000m race walk at the 11th National Youth Athletics here today.
Neena clocked 24 minutes 11.70 secs, bettering her previous best time of 24:42.18 that she registered during the World Youth Championships at Donetsk, Ukraine, last year.
Ever since she took part in the under-16 division six years ago, Neena has been performing well. Her first taste of victory arrived in the national inter-zonal championships at Panchkula in 2009. She had also won the Juniors Nationals in Warangal in 2009.
Neena made it to the Indian Team for Donetsk following her excellent performance in Guntur last year. Earlier this February, she bagged the gold medal in the junior (under-20) section in her maiden appearance in the 10 km distance at the National Open Race Walking championships at Kochi.
The third and final day of the National Youth Athletics championships also witnessed two meet marks being bettered at the picturesque GMC Athletics Stadium here.
Long distance runner, Nandini Gupta of Uttar Pradesh covered the girls' 2000m steeplechase in 7 minutes and 35.71 secs, while Haryana boys improved their own state-mates' record by just five-hundredth of a second as they timed 1:57.42 to win the medley relay.
Kerala retained the overall champion title with a whooping 198 points, while Uttar Pradesh finished runners-up with 115.5 points.
In the last edition at Guntur, Kerala had a nail-biting fight with Haryana and won the championship by a thrilling 1 point margin.
Kerala also crowned the girls' team aggregate with 151 points wherein Tamil Nadu adjudged the second position in a distant 65 points.
The boys' team trophy went to Uttar Pradesh (88.5 points) while Haryana ended up in the next position in 77 points.
Hurdlers Maymon Poulose (Kerala) and Ankita Gosavi (Maharashtra) were adjudged "Best Athletes" in the boys and girls divisions respectively.
