Zubin rewrites national 400m record

SINGAPORE — The national 400m record set by Godfrey Jalleh in 1974 and equalled in 1989 by sprint champion Haron Mundir has finally fallen.

Yesterday in Taipei, Zubin Percy Mucherji from Anglo Chinese Junior College clocked 47.29 secs in his 400m heat at the 16th Asian Junior Athletics Championships, dipping below the hand-timed 47.4s first set by Jalleh in an Asian Games trial in 1974, and matched by Haron at a club meet 15 years later.

A quarter of a century on, 18-year-old Mucherji has set a new mark in coming second in his heat against a field of sprinters from Iran, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and hosts Taiwan. Said Mucherji in a phone interview from Taipei: “The race was really something special, and I was glad I got a push from some of the best athletes in Asia and that got me the PB (personal best).

“I actually had no clue (about the new record) and only found out when the rest of the Singapore team told me and I was as shocked as everyone else. This really means a lot to me especially since it has stood for a really long time.”

Singapore has sent a 12-strong team for the four-day meet which started yesterday. The nation’s fastest female sprinter Shanti Pereira will be gunning for a spot on the podium in the century sprint.

Shanti, 17, won bronze in the 200m at the Asian Juniors in 2012. She clocked the third fastest time of 11.95s in yesterday’s semi-finals, behind Yuan Qi Qi (11.80s) and Liang Xiao Jing (11.92s), both from China.