Punjab’s Veerpal wins gold, Vithya pulls out

Bhubaneswar, May 12

Defending champion and national record holder Vithya Ramraj pulled out of the women’s 400m hurdles event due to back pain as the Federation Cup made a low-key start. Vithya, part of the Indian women’s 4x400m relay squad that booked a Paris Olympics berth in Bahamas recently, pulled out immediately after the start of the final race on the opening day.

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Veerpal Kaur of Punjab won the gold medal with a very slow time of 59.43 seconds. Salini Valupararambil of Kerala was second with a time of 1:00.73, while Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab took the third spot in 1:01.29.

Vithya had equalled the legendary PT Usha’s 400m hurdles national record of 55.42 seconds during the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October last year. The 25-year-old had run the first leg of the first round but was replaced in the second round by Rupal Chaudhary in the World Relays in Nassau.

“There is some back pain. There is also jet lag as we returned from Bahamas just a few days ago,” Vithya said.

Jyothika Sri Dandi, another member of the relay squad, said, “It was an intense training and competition (for one month in Bahamas). So, we are kind of taking time to get into another competition.”