Laxmanan, Surya win second golds in Federation Cup

Mangaluru: Laxmanan of the Indian Army and Tamil Nadu's L Surya won gold medals in the 10km race in the men's and women's categories, respectively on the fourth and final day of the 19th Federation Cup National Senior Athletic championship at the Mangala stadium here on Monday.

For both this is the second gold of the championship as they had come first in the 5000m race also. In the 10,000m race today, Laxmanan covered the distance in 29:49.91 followed by his army colleagues Gopi T (29:52.26) and Kheta Ram (29:53.18).

After the race, Laxmanan said he was not fully satisfied with the result and would prepare hard for the Asian Track and Field meet. In the women's category, L Surya won the gold clocking 34:42, while Sanjeevini Baburao Jadhav (34:52.91) and Swati Haribhau Gadhave (34:53.70) claimed the second and third positions, respectively.

Surya said though she was glad about the win, she was a bit sad that she could not qualify for the ATF. The qualifying time of the women's 10km race is 33:40. Surya's personal best is 33:56, which she clocked at the Delhi Open Nationals last year.

Naveen Kumar and Jaiveer Singh of the Army, who won the gold and silver in the 3000m steeple chase yesterday, qualified for the Wuhan-bound Indian team for the Asian meet.