Indian athletes hit top gear at BMC Gold Race

London, Jun 19 (UNI) Braving strong winds and chilly weather, Indian women runners Sinimol Paulose and Sushma Devi clinched gold medals as their compatriots put up a dominating performance at the BMC Gold Race at Watford.

Asian champion Paulose, who was competing in her third 800m race of the outdoor season yesterday, clocked 2:03.79s to win first place while Sushma Devi registered a comfortable victory in the 1500m with a time of 4:22.51s.

India hit the jackpot in the men's section also, seizing the top three places in the 1500m. Ravinder (3:44.93s) claimed pole position, pushing favourite Chatoli Hamza (3:46.21s) to the second spot. Paritam Bind ( 3:44.99s) got the bronze.

Hamza, who had clocked 3:40.10s on June 14, was far from his best yesterday.

In the men's 800m, India's Sajeesh Joseph and Rajeev Ramesan emerged contenders for the top spot in the last 100m but failed to keep up the momentum as Australian Jeff Riseley won the race with 1:47.65s.

While Sajeesh took the silver clocking 1:47.89s, Rajeev was third with 1:47.93s.

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