Ahmedabad, Oct 1 (PTI) Pole vaulter Rosy Meena Paulraj of Tamil Nadu and state-mate weightlifter N Ajith (73kg class) shared the limelight by shattering national records en route to winning gold medals in the 36th National Games here on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Rosy Meena turned out to be the unlikely star of the athletics competition as she cleared 4.20m to go past VS Surekha's earlier national mark of 4.15m set in 2014.

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Her two Tamil Nadu team-mates, Pavitha Vengatesh and Baranica Elangovan were distance second and third with efforts of 4m and 3.90m respectively.

Ajith, on the other hand, broke the men's 73kg national record in clean and jerk with a lift of 174kg, bettering Achinta Sheuli's earlier mark of 173kg. Ajith won gold with a total lift of 315kg (snatch 141, clean and jerk 174).

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Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist Achinta of Services took the silver with a total lift of 295kg (130 and 165). B Devapreedhan of Kerala was third with a total lift of 290kg (125 and 165).

In men's long jump, Jeswin Aldrin of Tamil Nadu beat Commonwealth Games silver medallist Murali Sreeshankar of Kerala for the gold in a high-quality competition to qualify for the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Aldrin jumped 8.26m in his sixth and last attempt to win the gold and go past the World Championships qualifying mark of 8.25m. He also had two other 8m-plus jumps -- 8.07m amd 8.21m.

Sreeshankar, who won a silver in the Birmingham CWG in August and holds the national record of 8.36m, had a best jump of 7.93m, which he came up in his first attempt. He had another jump of 7.55m before passing all the remaining four attempts.

Another top long jumper, Muhammed Anees Yahiya of Kerala was third with a best jump of 7.92m.

Meanwhile, Amlan Borgohain of Assam and Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh emerged as the fastest man and woman respectively of the National Games after clinching gold in the 100m dash events.

Jyothi, whose pet event is 100m hurdles in which she holds the national record, stunned the likes of Dutee Chand (Odisha) and Hima Das (Assam), to win the women's 100m gold with a time of 11.51 seconds.

Tamil Nadu's Archana Suseendran (11.55s) and Maharashtra's Diandra Valladares (11.62s) won the silver and bronze respectively.

National record holder Dutee finished sixth with a time of 11.69s while Hima was seventh in 11.74s.

Borgohain clocked 10.38s in the men's 100m dash to stand on the top of the podium. Tamil Nadu runners Elakiyadasan VK (10.44) and Siva Kumar B (10.48) were second and third respectively.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Services) and Muhammed Ajmal (Kerala) won gold in men's shot put and 400m race respectively.

Gujarat women's tennis team retained the National Games gold by beating back Maharashtra's challenge. Ankita Raina and Vaidehee Choudari reeled off eight games in a row after trailing 2-4 in the opening set of the doubles rubber at the Riverside Sports Complex in Ahmedabad.

Ankita Raina first beat Rutuja Bhosale in a must-win second singles rubber. The experienced campaigner was unperturbed by the pressure and dropped just one game in the opening set.

Rutuja Bhosale took a 3-2 lead in the second set by breaking her opponent's serve but Ankita Raina held on to clinch the match in straight sets.

Telangana teenager Esha Singh lived up to expectations when she stood out in a strong field to win the women's 25m Pistol gold. She first topped qualifications with 584 points, one more than Olympian Manu Bhaker (Haryana). She needed to win a shoot-off against Vibhuti Bhatia (Haryana) after her Ranking Match.

Up against Rhythm Sangwan (Haryana), Abhidnya Ashok Patil (Maharashtra) and Manu Bhaker in the medal match, she scored 26 points to claim the title.

Rhythm Sangwan took silver with 25 and Abhidnya Patil the bronze with 19 ahead of Manu Bhaker (10).

“I'm over the moon. It is always special to win a gold in National Games. It was a close affair and Rhythm was on my heels. I had to keep cool in the last two shots to win gold,” she said.

It was with a similar display of composure under pressure that Shaista Sharma (Delhi) hogged the limelight at the Kensville Golf and Country Club in Dholera near here.

She scored nine points in the final four ends of the women's singles Lawn Bowls final to transform a 12-17 deficit into a 21-17 victory over Sarita Tirkey (Jharkhand).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)