Indian track athlete Aarti opened India’s medal tally at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru when she won bronze in the women’s 10000m event on Friday.
The 17-year-old runner set a new national record of 44:39.39 to finish in third place, breaking the national record she had set back in March when she won gold at the National Federation Cup Under-20 Championships. Chinese race walkers Zhuoma Baima (43:26.60) and Meiling Chen (44:30.67) won gold and silver respectively.
In the other results from the tournament, the Indian quartet of Rihan Chaudhary, Ankul, Abiram Pramod and Jay Kumar also set a new national U20 record of 3:08.10 in the men’s 4x400m relay heats to finish second in their respective heat and qualify for the final.
However, the women’s 4x400m team failed to qualify for the final by a whisker despite setting a new national U20 record. The team of Sandramol Sabu, Kanista Maria Devi Shekar, Neeru Pathak and Shravani Sangle clocked 3:40.43 to finish third in their respective heat and ninth overall.
Earlier on Thursday, Pooja Singh also broke the national record with a best throw of 1.83m in women’s high jump to finish ninth overall and qualify for the final.
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