Gulveer Singh’s doughty effort to win the men’s 10,000m with a Games record in the Athletics competition today helped Services consolidate their position at the top of the 36th National Games medal charts.

The three-time defending champions spurted to the pole position for the first time on Sunday, thanks to a good show in Rowing and Gymnastics.

Gulveer Singh enjoyed a massive advantage over his main rivals, Uttar Pradesh’ Abhishek Pal and Kartik Kumar, as they had to recover from the rigours of their triumphant 5000m run 48 hours earlier.

For much of the race, he tailed his team-mates Sawan Barwal as well as Kartik Kumar and Abhishek Pal. He, however, made a decisive shift with about 250m to go to emerge the winner in 28:54.29.

Abhishek Pal spiritedly overtook the leader from the outside but seemed to lose his rhythm a bit on the curve. He then had to fight hard to keep his silver medal position, with Kartik Kumar summoning his last ounces of energy to mount a challenge over the last few metres.

All three came home with personal best times inside G Lakshmanan’s Games mark of 29:13.50.

For someone who took to competitive running only after he joined the 23 Grenadiers of the Army a couple of years ago, Gulveer Singh has made strong strides in his debut season. Starting with a bronze in the Federation Cup in April and rising to silver in the National Inter-State Championships in June, he was pleased that he won a hard-fought race.