Railway sprinter Merlin K Joseph on Sunday smashed the 13-year-old national record in women’s 100m race in the semifinal but could manage only a bronze in the finals on the second day of the 53rd National Open athletics championships.
Merlin clocked 11.35secs to win the semifinals heat number three as she bettered the earlier national record of 11.38secs in the name of Rachita Mistry set in 2000 in Trivandrum. Merlin, however, finished third in the final race later in the day, clocking 11.95secs. Dutee Chand of ONGC won the gold in 11.73secs while H M Jyothi of Karnataka bagged the silver on a rain-marred day. Aniruddha Gujar of LIC became the fastest male athlete of the championships as he won the 100m dash in 10.46secs. Tamil Nadu sprinter Suresh Sathya (10.66secs) finished second while Abdul Najeeb Qureshi won the bronze. agencies