Jashbir nayak

Indian Indoor Open Combined Events: Kuldeep Kumar, representing Madhya Pradesh, won a battle of wits to set the national men’s pole vault record on the opening day of the inaugural Indian Indoor Open Combined Events and Pole Vault Competition at the Indoor Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.

The 21-year-old cleared the height of 5.41m in his first attempt to better the national record of 5.40m set last year by Dev Kumar Meena. Kuldeep Kumar also improved the national indoor record of 5.30m set earlier in March by Reegan G of Tamil Nadu. The newly-crowned champion missed all three attempts at 5.46m. “It was a good day for me,” says Kuldeep Kumar after breaking the national record.

Dev Kumar Meena was in good form. Earlier this year, he had equalled his national record (5.40m) in March in Taiwan. He was the pre-event favourite but settled for the bronze medal on Saturday.