Kolkata, Sept 11 : Despite being more than four minutes off her personal best, Asian Games gold medallist Preeja Sreedharan won the gold medal in the 10000m race on the opening day of the 51st National Open Athletics Championships in Kolkata on Saturday.
Competing for Railways, Sreedharan who had won the same event in the Guangzhou Asian Games with a national record of 31.50.47 could record only a timing of 35.56.09. Her track rival Kavita Raut (35:56.13) finished a fraction of seconds behind to earn ONGC a silver medal.
In the men's 10,000m final held at 6am in the morning, ONGC's Suresh Kumar clinched the gold with a timing of 30:18.16.
