Kathmandu, March 3:

Keshari Chaudhary and Sabitri Nepali set national records on the opening day of the Nepal Investment Bank 35th National Athletics Championships here at Dasharath Stadium today.

Crown Prince Paras inaugurated the four-day tournament and also graced the short-distance races. Minister for Education and Sports Radha Krishna Mainali was also present on the occasion.

Keshari, the eighth-standard student from Nepalgunj, jumped 1.43 metres in women’s high jump breaking her own record of 1.40 metres, set at the Inter-Regional School level athletics tournament on February 22. Keshari, 14, had earlier broken the 18-year-old record of 1.38m held by Anuja Dhakal.

Keshari said that she was happy to have broken the record twice within a month. Keshari, who was a sprinter originally, recently swithced to high jump. “I can better my performance,” delighted Keshari said, adding that she had hardly trained in recent times. Ganga Chaudhary of Far-Western Region finished second with 1.30 metres followed by Lok Kumari Mahato of Western Region, who also jumped 1.30m.

Sabitri Nepali of Nepal Police set a new record in women’s 400m, when she finished the heats in 1:01 minutes, breaking Kamala Prasai’s record of 1:02.72 minutes made in Kolkata in November 24, 1987.

Rajendra Bhandari of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC), a national record holder of 5,000m (14:04.89m), won the 10,000 metre race with the timing of 31:29.9 minutes. Fellow club runner Yam Bahadur Pudasaini finsihed second with 31:30.81 minutes while marathoner

Arjun Dhakal of Gyanendra Armed Police Force (APF) Officers’ Club came third in 32:24.9 minutes.

Gyan Bahadur Bohara and Prem Bahadur Mahat, both from TAC, won gold and silver medals in the men’s 1,500m. Bohara came in 4:04.33 minutes while Mahat finished in 4:05.09.Tirtha Raj Wali of APF won the bronze medal with the timings of 4:09.1. Gopal Bahadur Adhikari (3:46.63) holds the 1,500 national record.

Kanchi Maya Koju and Chhaya Khatri of Nepal Police won the gold and silver medal in the women’s 1,500m with the timings of 4:49.6 and 4:53.3 minutes. Koju is the national record holder in 1000m. Krishneswori Sintakala of Central Region claimed the bronze completing the course in 5:13.5 minutes.

Devi Basnet of TAC won the 100m in 10.8 seconds followed by Gopal KC of Nepal Police (11s) and Abhishek Gurung of Western Region (11.4s). Nepal Police’s Chandrakala Thapa won the women’s 100m race in 12.7 seconds followed by Bina Shrestha, also of Nepal Police, in 13.2 seconds and Binu Budhamagar of Mid-Western Region (13.3).

Ujir Singh Bista of Nepal Police won the men’s shot put with a distance of 13.80m, while fellow club athlete Naresh Jung Shah came second with 11.70 metres. Padam Bhandari of TAC won the bronze medal with 11.25 metres.