Bhawna and Kuldeep hog the limelight

Haryana’s Bhawna running to a new mark in the under-20 women’s 100m on day two of the 38th National Junior athletics championship at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: S. Siva Saravanan

Tamil Nadu’s R.C. Jithin cleared 7.35m for a new record in the under-16 boys long jump event on day two of the 38th National Junior athletics championship at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit:
S. Siva Saravanan

Haryana’s Bhawna sprinted her way to glory in the under-20 women’s 100m on day two of the 38th National junior athletics championship at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday. Bhawna stopped the clock at 11.55s to shatter Dutee Chand’s record of 11.63s set ten years ago.

Kuldeep Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) soared 5.17 metres for a new pole vault record in the men’s under-20 section.

But it was R.C. Jithin of Tamil Nadu who started it all with a record leap of 7.35m to clinch the under-16 boys’ long jump gold. Coached by his father R. Chandrasekar, the 16-year-old jumped the distance in his fifth attempt to erase the existing mark of 7.27m set by Pankaj Verma in Ranchi five years ago. He also broke the hexathlon record to complete a golden double.

Sachin and Abhinaya Rajarajan brought further joy to the host by emerging the fastest athletes in the boys’ under-16 and girls’ under-18 categories respectively.

Punjab’s Gurleen Kaur (U-18 women’s shot put) and Delhi’s Abhi Sirohi (U-14 boys 60m) were the other record-breakers of the day.

The results (winners): Boys: U-14: 60m: 1. Abhi Sirohi (Del) 7.21s (NR, Old: Deepak Toppo 7.30s, 2021).

U-16: 100m: Sachin (TN) 10.97; 5,000m walk: Nitin Gupta (UP) 20:34.21; long jump: R.C. Jithin (TN) 7.35m (NR, Old: Pankaj Verma 7.27, 2018); discus: Nishchay (Har) 56.59m; hexathlon: 1. R.C. Jithin 4050 (NR, Old: J. Arjunan Guwa 3734, 2022).

U-18: 100m: Anshu Rajak (UP) 10.67s; 400m: M. Sharan (TN) 48.18s; long jump: Mohd. Sazid (Har) 7.62m.

U-20: 400m: C.H. Rihan (Kar) 46.95; 10,000m walk: Bilin George Anto (Ker) 42:45.25; hammer: Mohammad Shahban (UP) 69.55m; pole vault: Kuldeep Kumar (UP) 5.17m (NR, Old: Dev Meena 5.05, 2019).

Girls: U-14: 60m: Sneha Deka (Asm) 8.06s.

U-16: 100m: Vala Roshanba (Guj) 12.12s; 3,000m walk: Sarojani (UP) 14:34.77s; Javelin: Sabita Murmu (Jha) 40.37m; long jump: Nandini Santra (WB) 5.46m; hexathlon: Baddi Vyshali (Tel) 3051 pts.

U-18: 100m: Abhinaya Rajarajan (TN) 11.91s; 400m: Tahura Khatun (WB) 55.66; discus: Ritik (Chd) 60.12m; shot put: 1. Gurleen Kaur (Pjb) 16.75m (NR, Old: Vidhi 16.56, 2022).

U-20: 100m: Bhawna (Har) 11.55 (NR, Old: Dutee Chand 11.63, 2013); high jump: Payal Jamod (Guj) 1.71m; 10,000m walk: Indu (Har) 49:40.30; shot put: Vidhi (UP) 15.36 (MR, Old: Kiran Baliyan 14.54, 2017).