Deepika breaks national record in javelin throw at National Youth Athletics Championships

AFI will now decide which athletes to send to the Asian Youth Championships upon reviewing their performances at the event.

The 17th National Youth Athletics Championships was a qualifying event for the Asian Youth Athletics Championships to be held in Kuwait next month in October. The meet was held across three days starting from 17th to 19th September in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Many National Records were broken and more than 20 athletes achieved the qualification mark in both the track and field event. There were many events in which more than two athletes breached the qualification mark but the rule states that only two athletes can be sent from a single event.

India has been performing well in junior events for the past few years. In the recently concluded U20 World Meet India won three medals.

Boys U18 Shot Put

Siddharth Choudhary (20.22m), Akash Yadav (19.78m), and Ashutosh Dubey (18.86m) finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively also breaching the QF mark at 18.59m.

Boys U18 Pole Vault

Kuldeep Kumar from Uttar Pradesh cleared a distance of 4.80m with not much competition from his peers and he was clearing the previous height in single attempts. Kuldeep missed out on breaking the National Record when the vault set at 4.91m and failed to clear thrice. The next best athlete could only clear 4.40m.

Girls Discuss Throw

Like the boy's shot put, three girls cleared the qualification mark set at 43.00m. Nikita Kumari (46.07m), Anisha (44.44m), and Arshdeep Kaur (43.95m) claimed the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions respectively. All three cannot make it to Asian Youth Championships as only two athletes from a single event can qualify.

Girls 400m

Qualification Mark - 57.05 sec.

Isha Rajesh (55.39 sec), Anushka (56.71 sec) and Roshani Yadav ( 57.04 sec). At the recently held U20 World Championships, the quarter milers were instrumental in India performing well.

Girls 800m

Asha Kiran Barla from Jharkhand was the U20 World semi-finalist in August and now qualifies for the Asian Youth Championships with a timing of 2:08.45 min. With good international experience, Asha will fancy herself to finish at the podium in Kuwait.

Girls Long Jump

Qualification mark - 5.73m

Mubsinna Mohamm (5.90m) became the first athlete from Lakshadweep to finish 1st at any National meet. Lakshadweep does not have a single synthetic field and there are no proper facilities available too but Mubsinna had the determination to perform thereby achieving the qualifying mark as well.

Divyashri (5.82m) and Lakshanya (5.74m) from Tamil Nadu finished 2nd and 3rd.

Girls Javelin Throw

Qualification Mark - 48.94m

Deepika from Haryana speared the Javelin to a distance of 51.84m breaking her own National Record set at the Khelo India Youth Game in June 2022. She has been breaking her records off late and is an athlete to watch out for in future.

Girls Heptathlon

Qualification Mark - 4634 points

Mubsinna who had earlier qualified in Long Jump scored 4649 points. Taking part in 2 events is not an easy job but Mubsinna fighting all odds delivers in both events. Pavana Nagaraj from Karnataka was leading the pack on day 1 but couldn't register a throw in Javelin thereby losing the top position.

Girls Pole Vault

Qualification Mark - 3.30m

Vanshika Ganghis from Haryana broke the National record of Nivya Anthony set at a distance of 3.55m. Haryana athletes had a good final day breaking records at ease. Nikita Anup breached 3.40m.

Girls Triple Jump

Qualification Mark - 12.02m

DIvyashri from Tamil Nadu who had earlier finished 2nd in Long Jump, cleared 12.21m in Triple thereby qualifying in both the events to Kuwait.

Girls 200m

Qualification mark - 24.78m

Ruthika Saravanan was the lone athlete in the sprint events to qualify with a timing of 24.70 sec. Earlier in the 100m, she was set to reach the finals but due to a false start got disqualified.

Boys 400m hurdles

Qualification Mark - 55.28 sec

Jerome Sanjay (53.62), Murad (53.83), and Vishnu (55.00) qualified. Dharun Ayyasamy was in peak form in 2018 creating the National Record (48.80) but after that couldn't show consistency due to injuries. The young boys need to step up and quickly transition to the senior set-up.

Boys Long Jump

Qualification Mark - 7.30m

Atta Sazid the tally lanky athlete from Haryana cleared 7.33m. There were hopes from Ajay who had finished 1st in the Qualifying round earning the 7m mark. But in the crunch situation, Sazid claimed the gold medal.

Boys Javelin Throw

Qualification Mark - 69.36m

Arjun (72.92m) and Himanshu (69.72m) qualified in their last throws holding their composure till the last minute. After Neeraj Chopra's historic gold many youngsters have started taking up the sport and we can see at the senior level the athletes from India clearing 80m at ease.

Boys Discuss Throw

Qualification Mark - 54.93m

Atul (57.94m), Servan (56.81m), and Aryan (56.10m) qualified.

Athletes who impressed

Deepika and Mubsinna were the two athletes who performed to their best. Mubsinna, in particular, coming from Lakshadweep where no facilities are available, broke all odds and won two events. Deepika has been progressing well in the junior ranks for the past few years. Like Neeraj, in the future, she is set to rule women's Javelin.

The AFI will now decide which athletes to send to the Asian Youth Championships upon reviewing their performances.