Dandi Jyothika Sri (Andhra Pradesh) and Ayush Dabas (Haryana) turned in fine performances to win the women and men’s 400m with personal best times in the inaugural National U-23 Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday. It placed them as the second and fifth fastest Indian quarter-milers respectively this year.
Dandi Jyothika Sri, keen to overcome memories of a disqualification in the National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal a fortnight ago, carried confidence to the track. Once Kiran Pahal chose to not run in the meet, Jyothika Sri’s key rivals were Nancy (Haryana) and Florence Barla (Jharkhand). Her pace was such that they were left to fight for second place.
Jyothika Sri, who hails from Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh but trains in Hyderabad, won in 53.05 seconds. It was an improvement on her previous best of 54.70. It was also the fastest time by an Indian woman on Indian soil this year, going past MR Poovamma’s 53.45 and was only the second-fastest after the 52.77 that Priya H Mohan clocked in the World U20 Championships.
Similarly, Ayush Dabas was on top of his game in the men’s final. He bested Haryana teammate Vikrant Panchal by half a second. His time of 46.58 seconds catapulted him ahead of Vikrant Panchal, who had clocked 46.83 in winning the 400m in the National Inter-State Championships on June 28, into India’s top five quarter-milers this year.
VA Shashikanth (Karnataka) and Taranjeet Kaur (Delhi) won the right to be called the fastest man and woman of the meet by winning the 100m races in contrasting styles. Shashikanth had to overcome a poor start to catch up with Maharashtra’s Pranav Gurav with about 20 meters left for the finish. Taranjeet Singh score a pretty straightforward win in the women’s final.
Tamil Nadu’s Sherin Abdul Gaffoor dominated the women’s Long Jump in the evening, making the most of the pit conditions to keep taking her personal best from 6.32m achieved in January 2020 with a series of jumps in keeping with her recent consistency. She first improved to 6.35 with her third try, increased it by a couple of centimeters on her next attempt before finishing the event with a massive 6.45 effort.
Results (finals):
Men
100m: 1. VA Shashikanth (Karnataka) 10.57 seconds; 2. Pranav Gurav (Maharashtra) 10.67; 3. G Kathiravan (Tamil Nadu) 10.85.
400m: 1. Ayush Dabas (Haryana) 46.58 seconds; 2. Vikrant Panchal (Haryana) 47.08; 3. Mohammed Hossain (West Bengal) 47.20.
110m Hurdles: 1. Tejas Shirse (Maharashtra) 14.12 seconds; 2. Yashwant Laveti (Andhra Pradesh) 14.25; 3. Kunal Chaudhary (Delhi) 14.44.
Shot Put: 1. Ashish Kumar (Haryana) 17.20m; 2. Aniket (Uttarakhand) 17.09; 3. Akash Grewal (Uttar Pradesh) 17.03.
Discus Throw: 1. Basukesh Poonia (Rajasthan) 53.27m; 2. Praveen Kumar Nehra (Rajasthan) 51.38; 3. Abhay Gupta (Haryana) 50.41.
Javelin Throw: 1. Rohit Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 72.42m; 2. Anmol Rana (Uttar Pradesh) 71.17; 3. Anuj Kalera (Rajasthan) 68.73.
20000m Race Walk: 1. Suraj Panwar (Uttarakhand) 1:28:53.11; 2. Amit Khatri (Haryana) 1:28:54.81; 3. Juned (Haryana) 1:29:20.78.
Decathlon: 1. Yaman Deep Singh (Rajasthan) 6975 points (100m: 11.21; LK: 7.10; SP: 10.20; HJ 2.04; 400m: 50.03; 110mH: 16.20; DT: 34.26; PV: 4.20; JT 48.48; 1500m: 4:40.93); 2. Robin Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6636; 3. Mohit (Haryana) 6615.
Women
100m: 1. Taranjeet Kaur (Delhi) 11.54 seconds; 2. AT Daneshwari (Karnataka) 11.66; 3. Nithya Gandhe (Telangana) 11.90.
400m: 1. Dandi Jyothika Sri (Andhra Pradesh) 53.05 seconds; 2. Florence Barla (Jharkhand) 54.69; 3. Nancy (Haryana) 55.25.
100m Hurdles: 1. Aparna Roy (Kerala) 13.80 seconds; 2. Nandhini K (Tamil Nadu) 13.96; 3. Moumita Mondal (West Bengal) 14.05.
Pole Vault: 1. Pooja (Haryana) 3.60m; 2. Pavithra Venkatesh (Tamil Nadu) 3.50; 3. Divya Mohan (Kerala) 3.50.
High Jump: 1. Athira Somaraj (Kerala) 1.71m; 2. Rekha (Haryana) 1.69; 3. Giji Stephen (Tamil Nadu) 1.69.
Long Jump: 1. Sherin Abdul Gaffoor (Tamil Nadu) 6.45m; 2. Sandra Babu (Kerala) 6.29; 3. Pooja Saini (Rajasthan) 6.22.
Discus Throw: 1. Sunita (Haryana) 46.75m; 2. Shivani (Uttar Pradesh) 46.25; 3. Neetika Verma (Uttar Pradesh) 44.77.
20000m Race Walk: 1. Reshma Patel (Uttarakhand) 1:45:01.55; 2. Mansi Negi (Uttarakhand) 1:45:45.95; 3. Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh) 1:46:20.57.
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