Choa Chu Kang Stadium, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 — The sixth day of competition at the National Inter-School Track and Field Championships saw five records fall and many other noteworthy performances.

Raffles Institution’s Ng Chin Hui, with four sub-50 second runs in the 400 metres this year, entered into sub-49 second territory in the Boys’ A Division final. He clocked 48.98 seconds en route to winning gold, bettering the electronically-timed (ET) record of 49.35 set by Shalindran Sathiyanesan in 2008 and equalled by Chin Hui’s schoolmate Seow Yeong Yang two days ago, in the semi-finals.

The hand-timed record remains at 48.8 seconds, set by Sandy Ang in 1984.

In the Boys’ A Division 800 metres, overwhelming favourite Zachary Devaraj did not quite repeat his jaw-dropping performance at the Singapore Athletic Association’s Track and Field Series two weekends ago, but it was still enough for the gold medal and the ET record.

The 16-year-old Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Year Five student had then set a new national under-17 record of one minute 54.14 seconds. Zachary won the final today in a time of 1:57.10, which lowers Subaish Rajamanickam’s ET record of 1:57.67 set in 2002 by more than half a second.

The third A Division Boys record to fall today was Lim Zhuo Yan’s shot put record of 17.11 metres, set in 2009. Hwa Chong Institution’s Wong Kai Yuen broke it with aplomb, adding 57 centimetres to the old mark. His 17.68m throw is a new national under-17 record, breaking his own 17.16m mark set in January this year.

Kai Yuen is the current national junior record holder in this event. He set the current junior record of 15.37m two weekends ago at the SAA Series, using a six kilogram shot put. The weight of the shot put in the A Division competition is five kilograms.

In the Girls’ B Division 100 metres hurdles, favourite Jannah Wong broke Goh Wei Ning’s year-old record of 15.00 seconds in the heats and final. The CHIJ Katong Convent Secondary Three student clocked a time of 14.92 seconds in the morning heats, and improved that to 14.85 in the afternoon final.

This is Jannah’s fourth consecutive win in the sprint hurdles at the national schools level, dating back to the 2008 Primary School Track and Field Championships.

The national under-17 record stands at 14.78s, set by Wei Ning at last year’s Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Asian Area Qualification meet.

In other events, ACS (Barker Road)’s Zubin Muncherji blitzed the field to win the Boys’ B Division 400m in a stunning time of 50.04 seconds. This is the fastest time by a Secondary Three student in recent memory.

In the Boys’ A Division 110m Hurdles final, RI’s Ang Chen Xiang equalled Abdul Hakeem’s record of 14.46 seconds en route to winning gold. Wendy Enn (Singapore Sports School) won the girls’ B Division 400m in a personal best of 58.67 seconds, with Thia Yi Yi (59.60) and Charlene Oh (60.19) taking silver and bronze with their lifetime bests as well.

YOG representative Ranjitha d/o Raja missed her PB by about a second, but still went sub-5 minutes in winning the girls’ B Division 1500m with a time of 4:58.29. The girls’ A Division long jump saw four athletes clear five metres, with VJC’s Jessica Lee winning the gold with a jump of 5.29m.

It was the best winning distance in this event since 2003. In the B Division long jump competition that same year, five jumpers cleared five metres or better, with two others jumping 4.99m.

The competition continues tomorrow afternoon and ends on Wednesday, April 27.