Ranchi, May 24 -- Madhya Pradesh's talented athletes Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar raised the bar to 5.45metres to set a national record in the men's pole vault on the penultimate day of the 29th National Senior Athletics Federation Competition here in Ranchi.

Both the athletes bettered the previous national men's pole vault record of 5.41m, but Dev Kumar Meena walked away with the gold medal while Kuldeep Kumar settled for silver (on countdown). The previous record of 5.41m was set recently by Kuldeep Kumar in Bhubaneswar. The gold and silver medallists have also achieved the Commonwealth Games qualification mark of 5.25m. The meet record was 5.35m, set last year by Dev Kumar Meena.

Training partners and close friends, Dev Kumar Me...