BHOPAL: The Indian Railways team notched up total eight medals with three gold and silver each along with two bronzes to top the medal tally on the opening day Tuesday of the four-day 49th Indian National Open Athletics Championship here.

The performance of the athletes was lackluster as no national record or meet record was broken in the backdrop of humiliation which former Indian sprint queen P. T. Usha, who burst into tears while narrating her woes to media persons over the issue of proper accommodation to her, suffered at the hands of the organizers due to communication gap the proceedings of the day did not invite much attention.

The Services team remained second with one gold medal and two bronzes to their credit. Haryana and Maharashtra pocketed one gold medal each only.

Sharda Narayan of Indian Railways became the fastest woman of the meet as she won the 100 meters in 11.71 seconds. H. M. Jyothi of Andhra Pradesh and Priya P.K. of Kerala placed second and third, clocking 11.73 and 12.11 seconds respectively.

The Railways men won gold and silver medals in men’s pole vault. In long jump Bimin K.P. of Railways took gold with a jump of 5.00 meters while Sandeep and Huma Khan (both of Railways) won silver medals in 5000 meters in men’s and women’s category respectively.

Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh Tukojirao Pawar declared the championship open. Mayor of Bhopal Municipal Corporation Sunil Sood, president of Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association Ramesh Mendola, Lifetime President of Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association Mahesh Joshi were present as special guests on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Malaysian athletes were to see action along with other national and international level athletes on Wednesday in the 20-km walk event under the Asian Athletics Exchange Program.

The four Malaysian athletes are Lo Chon Sieng Lo, Teoh Bon Lim, Mohammad Sharull Haizi Bin Abdul Rahman and B. Thirukumaran. Coach B. Subramaniam is accompanying the Malaysian athletes.

First day results:

Men’s 5,000m: 1. Surendra Singh (Services) 13:59.94 2. Sandeep (Railways) 14:34.26 3. Sandeep Karan Singh (Services) 14:34.51

Women’s 5,000m Run: 1. Kavita Raut (Maharashtra) 16:13.17 2. Jhuma Khatun (Railways) 17:01.80 3. Lalita Babar (Railways) 17:25.08

Women’s 100m: 1. Sharda Narayan (Railways) 11.71 2. H.M. Jyothi (Andhra Pradesh) 11.73 3. Priya P.K (Kerala) 12.11

Women’s Discus Throw: 1. Seema Antil (Haryana) 57.53 meters 2. Harwant Kaur (Punjab) 57.02 3. Krishna Poonia (Railways) 55.82

Men’s Pole Vault: 1. Bimin K.P (Railways) 5.00 meters 2. Gajanan Upadhayaya (Railways) 4.70 3. Sunder Singh (Police) 4.60

Men’s Long Jump: 1. Maha Singh (Railways) 7.79 meters 2. Mohd. Ibrar (Uttar Pradesh) 7.61 3.Hari Krishnan (Services) 7.59