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Those who were brought down from the train by TTE, broke the national record in pole vault.

Samira Vishwas | May 25, 2026 5:24 AM CST

Madhya Pradesh’s pole vault players Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar set a new national record with an identical jump of 5.45 meters in the Senior Athletics Federation competition on Sunday (May 24). The previous record (5.41 metres) was in the name of Kuldeep Kumar, who had set it recently in Bhubaneswar. On the third and last day of the competition held in Ranchi, both Dev and Kuldeep jumped 5.45-5.45 meters but Dev won the gold medal on the basis of countback rule. Kuldeep had to be satisfied with silver.

In pole vault and high jump events, when two or more athletes clear the same height, the winner is decided on the basis of a countback rule. In this, the player who takes the least effort to cross that height during the competition is considered the winner. Both Dev and Kuldeep also achieved the qualifying mark of 5.25m for the 2026 Commonwealth Games set by the Indian Athletics Federation.

Dev-Kuldeep were thrown off the train

Dev and Kuldeep were traveling by train with their coach Ghanshyam earlier this year when they were deboarded from the train by the TTE at Panvel railway station. This was because Dev and Kuldeep were traveling with their sports equipment ‘pole’. TTE said that you cannot travel with a pole. Dev-Kuldeep also explained that the pole is an essential equipment for their game. Despite this, TTE collected fine from him and then allowed him to board the train.

Murali Srishankar won gold in long jump

Murali Sreeshankar won the gold medal in long jump with a jump of 8.08 meters. He performed better than the Commonwealth Games qualifying level of 8.05 metres. Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Anil Kushare dominated in men’s high jump. His jump of 2.28 meters won him the gold medal, which was better than the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark of 2.22 meters. Kushare also equaled the meet record set by Tejaswin Shankar. He attempted to jump 2.30 meters to better the national record of 2.29 meters but all three attempts failed. Silver medalist Adarsh Ram (2.22 m) also achieved the qualifying mark for the Commonwealth Games.