41st National Masters Athletic Championship : S Thambal fastest in 60+ 100 m event

By Our Sports Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 12 : Manipur's S Thambal earned top place in the above 60 years men's 100 m event as the State amassed 12 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals on the fourth day at the 41st National Masters Athletic Championship being underway at Khuman Lampak Main Stadium.
S Thambal took 12.7 seconds to take the 60+ 100 crown as West Bengal's Jagadeesh R (13.2 seconds) and Maharashtra's Mohammad Fouz (13.6 seconds) finished second and third respectively.
In the men's above 35 years 100 m event, Manipur's L Dhanabir added a bronze medal to State's tally finishing third with a time of 12.2 seconds.
Kh Manichand Singh also won Manipur a gold medal in the above 70 years category 100 m where he clocked 14.2 seconds while Th Ibocha won the above 75 years crown with the best time of 15.5 seconds.
10000 m race
Tamil Nadu's Sivasamy was able to win the above 70 years men's 10000 crown by taking 54 minutes and 15 seconds while Manipur's Thoudam Nabakumar with a time of 54 minutes and 36 seconds was able to bag the silver medal.
Sapam Manimohan of Manipur also won a bronze medal in the above 75 years 10000 m race for men as he finished third by covering the distance in 59 minutes and 35 seconds as Jharkhand's Ram Pratap Munda (57:29) and Rajasthan's Gurudayal Singh Yadav (59:24) finished first and second. Phuritshabam Tamphamani then earned Manipur a silver medal in the women's above 65 years 200 m hurdles race with a time of 1 minute 3.8 seconds while M Indira bagged another silver medal in the women's 50 + 300 m hurdles  by taking 1 minute 27.2 seconds.
5000 m race
In the men's 5000 m race for above 45 years, N Basanta Singh bagged a silver medal with a time of 19 minutes 22.1 seconds as Yumnam Brojen won State another silver medal in the 55+ category by covering the distance in 20 minutes 56.2 seconds.
Discus Throw
Tamil Nadu's Xavier Arun Sundaram managed 36.29 m to win the discus throw gold medal for men above 60 years as Nitai Karmakar of Tripura (35.03 m) and Manipur's Laiphrakpam (33.32 m) won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Manipur's Th Biren also won a bronze medal in the above 65 years category by clearing 28.30 m while S Gojen with 30.82 m and M Ibungcha Singh with 30.30 m bagged the gold and silver medals respectively in the men's above 70 years discus throw event.
Longjam Bhubon also won Manipur a gold medal in the men's above 75 m discus throw event by recording 23.70 m throw while Birendranath of Assam (21.72 m) and A Ragnar Singh (20.77 m) finished second and third respectively to win the silver and the bronze medals.