Haryana’s Puneet Yadav dazzled on debut as he set a new meet record to win the 10,000m title at the AFI National Open U23 Athletics Championships on Saturday.
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The 19-year-old led a group of eight men who ran the 10,000 meters with 15 seconds of each other.
In his first 25-lap race at the national level, Punit did well to stay in the dominant group, ensuring that he would be in the best position to sprint to victory.
He won in a time of 29:44.64, almost a minute faster than Kartik Kumar’s winning time (30:41.66) at the inaugural championship in New Delhi last year.
Delhi’s Rohit Kumar, who was sixth in the pace race at the recent National Games, won the bronze medal from Farooq Choudhary (Uttar Pradesh).
Sumit Golian had originally finished third, but was disqualified for being older.
The men’s triple jump final saw an exciting finale. Tamil Nadu’s S Robinson claimed the lead with a personal best effort of only 15.56m to see his teammate J Mohanraj hop, step and jump 15.65m for his personal best legal effort.
Akash Varghese of Kerala stunned both of them by taking his lead with an effort of 15.70m, which would be his personal best.
Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) won the women’s triple jump on the countdown after Karnataka’s Pavitra tried her best with an effort of 12.79m.
Anusha’s second best effort was 12.78m while Pavitra could not go beyond 12.73m. Haryana’s Mimansa Dahiya won the bronze medal with a time of 12.75m.
Fourth last year, Yogita Kumar clocked a personal best effort of 14.90m in the women’s shot put gold.
The four-athlete Putt from Haryana, starting with her opening effort of 14.50m, put up her best performance on her third trip to the circle, good enough to win the crown.
Last year’s bronze medalist V Ambika (Karnataka) won the silver medal this time.
Result (Finals):
Men’s 10000m: 1. Puneet Yadav (Haryana) 29: 44.64; 2. Farooq Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 29:46.11; 3. Rohit Kumar (Delhi) 29:46.41.
Pole Vault: 1. Shekhar Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 4.80m; 2. Deepak Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) and Reagan G (Tamil Nadu) 4.80.
Triple Jump: 1. Akash Varghese (Kerala) 15.70 m; 2. J Mohanraj (Tamil Nadu) 15.65; 3. S Robinson (Tamil Nadu) 15.56.
Women 10000m: 1. Sonia (Uttarakhand) 37: 32.66.
Triple Jump: 1. Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 12.79 m; 2. Pavitra (Karnataka) 12.79; 3. Mimamsa Dahiya (Haryana) 12.75.
Shotput: 1. Yogita Kumar (Haryana) 14.90m; 2. V Ambika (Karnataka) 14.34; 3. Preeti Chakraborty (West Bengal) 13.10.
Hammer Throw: 1. Tanya Choudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 53.72m; 2. Sneha Jadhav (Maharashtra) 52.03; 3. Aishwarya (Haryana) 50.36.
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