Tamil Nadu''s Sam and Parthipa emerge fastest

Mangaluru, Jan 13 (PTI) Youngsters S. Sam Vasanth and Parthipa Selvaraj emerged as the fastest man and woman respectively, in the 85th All-India Inter-University Athletics Championships at the Swarajya Stadium in Moodbidiri on Tuesday.

Sam has got sprinting in his genes. His mother Kalaiselvi, a tailor, is a 100-200m gold medallist in Masters Nationals and he did his parents proud with his exploits in the meet.

After breaking V. Elakkiyadasan’s eight-year-old meet record in the morning’s semifinal clocking 10.39s, Coimbatore’s Bharathiar University’s Sam won the 100m gold in 10.44s.

“I knew I’d win after I broke the record,” said Sam, a student of Coimbatore’s Kongunadu Arts and Science College.

Tamil Nadu also produced the meet’s fastest woman with Madras University’s Parthipa Selvaraj shocking Sreena Narayanan – the country’s second-fastest athlete last year with her 11.44s at the MG University meet in Kochi in December – to grab the gold in a personal best 11.74s.

“I expected a fast time today, everything felt good from start to finish,” said Parthipa from Chennai’s MOP Vaishnava College whose parents are farmers.

Meanwhile, Kerala varsities picked two women’s gold on Tuesday, through MG University triple jumper Aleena Saji and Calicut’s 400m hurdler Delna Philip. PTI AH TAP