Jinson Johnson broke the longest-standing record in Indian athletics - men's 800m - on the second day of the 58th National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships in Guwahati on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Johnson, representing Kerala, clocked one minute and 45.65 seconds to clinch gold and better the earlier record of 1:45.77 in the name of Sriram Singh, who set it during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
He also booked a ticket for the Asian Games after beating the qualification mark of 1:47.50.
"I have been improving my physical fitness and the conditions were very good. Before the race, I was not thinking about the gold. I told myself that I will go for the national record", Jinson said after the race.
Jinson's earlier personal best was 1:45.98, which he had clocked in Bangalore in 2016.
"My (earlier) personal best timing was not that far away (from Sriram's). So I knew I can break it and I have done it today. I was disappointed that I couldn't do well in Rio Olympics. Now I am very happy that I qualified for the Asian Games."
Reacting after his record was broken, Sriram said: "Records are meant to be broken and I'm happy that Jinson broke my record. It is good for Indian athletes."
Manjit Singh of Haryana took the silver with a timing of 1:46.24 and also booked a ticket for the Asian Games. Mohd. Afsal of Manipur clinched the bronze in 1:46.79 while Beant Singh of Haryana was fourth in 1:46.92.
Meanwhile, Hima Das clinched the gold in the women's 200m race in a meet record-equalling time of 23.10 seconds to book a ticket for the Asian Games.
Running in lane number 7, the 18-year-old local favourite led the final race from start to finish as she left behind Dutee Chand (23.41) of Odisha by a big gap at the finish line to clock a personal best timing. Srabani Nanda (Odisha) took the bronze in 23.87.
Dutee also booked an Asian Games berth after breaching the qualifying time of 23.50. She had already clocked 23.46 in one of the heats yesterday.
"I am happy to have run my personal best at my home track. It is special," Hima said after the race.
Born in Dhing village in Assam's Nagaon district, Hima took to athletics two years ago but her rise has been meteoric. She had run a time of 23.22 in Poland earlier this month.
Asked if she can break the national record of 22.82, which was set by Saraswati Saha during the Asian Games, she said, "I cannot say that now and everybody will see when I run the race there in the Asian Games."
Hima, who is the brand ambassador of this meet, will also be competing in the 400m race on Thursday. She had clocked a personal best of 51.32 in the quartermile event during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April this year.
In men's 200m, Muhammed Anas of Kerala took the gold in 20.98 seconds but missed the qualifying mark of 20.87. V K Elakkiya Dasan of Tamil Nadu secured the silver in 21.31 while Parveen Kumar (21.43) got the bronze. Anas, who began running 200m recently, had clocked 20.74 earlier this month in Poland.
"I am not happy with my race. I did not have a good start, I don't know why. Because of that I could not qualify," said Anas who will also run in the 400m.
In the absence of Tintu Luka, who is currently injured, Komal Chodhary of Haryana took the gold in women's 800m race, clocking 2 minute and 06.68 seconds, well outside the qualifying mark of 2:03.00. Shipra Sarkar of Bengal took the silver in 2:07.02 while Maharashtra's Archana Adhav clocked 2:07.22 to clinch the bronze.
Twelve athletes have so far breached the Asian Games qualifying mark set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). India have been allotted 102 (52 men and 50 women) slots by the organisers of the Asian Games.