Federation Cup 2026: Meena, Kuldeep set joint-National Record in men’s pole vault to breach Commonwealth Games standard
In a spectacular neck-and-neck contest, Dev Meena and his training partner Kuldeep Kumar set a joint-National Record in the men’s pole vault with a mark of 5.45m at the Federation athletics meet at the Birsa Munda Stadium (Morabadi) on Sunday.
Pushing each other hard, both showed good rhythm to clear 5.45m. The two raised the bar to 5.50m, but could not go past it. Meena was the first one to push the envelope, when he leapt past Kuldeep’s existing record (5.41m) with a 5.42m leap.
Meena took the gold medal ahead of Kuldeep on the basis of registering fewer total misses (Meena’s eight vs Kuldeep’s nine).
The two earned their tickets for the Commonwealth Games.
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“We did our best today and gave each other a good fight. We will continue to keep up our fight in order to improve further,” said Meena.
“We are still learning this technical sport and we will improve,” said Kuldeep.
High jumper Sarvesh Kushare gave a good account of his focus to first register 2.22m and ensure his CWG journey. He improved it further to equal Tejaswin Shankar’s meet record (2.28m). However, his attempt to improve one centimetre upon Tejaswin’s National record (2.29m) did not succeed.
A consistent Murali Sreeshankar leaped to 8.08m in his third jump to qualify for the CWG. His last two attempts were foul.
Forty-year-old Olympian Sandeep Kumar became the men’s 10000m race walk champion after 18-year-old winner Nitin Gupta was disqualified as per World Athletics Technical Rule 6.2, which prohibits assistance to an athlete during an event, late on Saturday night. Sandeep had filed a complaint after the race.
The results (finals):
Men: 1500m (CWG Q mark: 3:30.82): 1. Rahul Baloda (Raj) 3:40.06, 2. Sakir (Har) 3:40.83, 3. Ajay Kumar Saroj (UP) 3:40.92; 110m hurdles (CWG Q mark 13.39): 1. Tejas Shirse (Rel.) 13.50 (NMR, Old Tejas Shirse 13.61, 2023), 2. Krishik M. (Rel.) 13.52, 2. Muhammed Lazan (Navy) 13.83; Long jump (CWG Q mark: 8.05m): 1. M. Sreeshankar (NCOE Trivandrum) 8.08m, 2. S. Lokesh (Rel.) 7.94m, 3. Mohd. Atta Sazid (Har) 7.90m; High jump (CWG Q mark 2.22m): 1. Sarvesh Kushare (Mah) 2.28m (MR, Old 2.28m, Tejaswin Shankar, 2018), 2. Aadarsh Ram (TN) 2.22m, 3. Sudeep (Kar) 2.12m; Discus (CWG Q mark 64.56m): 1. Dharamraj Yadav (Army) 55.20m, 2. Bhartpreet Singh (Navy) 54.62m, 3. Oinam Alson Singh (NCOE Patiala) 53.52m; Pole vault (CWG Q mark: 5.25m): 1. Dev Meena (MP Academy) 5.45m (NR, Old 5.41m, Kuldeep Kumar, 2026), 2. Kuldeep Kumar (MP) 5.45m, 3. Reegan G. (TN) 5.15m.
Women: 100m hurdles (CWG Q mark 12.67): 1. Nandhini K. (TN) 13.24, 2. Pragyan Prasanti Sahu (Odi) 13.33, 3. Anjali C. (JSW) 13.35; Hammer (CWG Q mark 66.80m): 1. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 59.08m, 1. Kulvinder Kaur (Rly) 57.76m, 3. Divya Shandilya (Odi) 56.41m; 10000m race walk (CWG Q mark 44:44.58): 1. Ravina (Har) 44:29.66, 2. Reshma Patel (AIP) 44:57.94, 3. Munita Prajapati (UP) 45:23.92.
On Saturday: Men: 10000m race walk (CWG Q mark 39:06.28): 1. Sandeep Kumar (Har) 39:51.95, 2. Servin (TN) 40:23.22, 3. Paramjeet Singh Bisht (Utk) 40:51.65.
Published on May 24, 2026