Bhawna and Kuldeep hog the limelight

Bhawna (Har) sprints to glory in U-20 women's 100m, breaks Dutee Chand's record. Jithin (TN) sets new long jump record in U-16 boys' section. Kuldeep Kumar (UP) sets pole vault record in U-20 men's section. Gurleen Kaur (Pjb) and Abhi Sirohi (Del) set shot put and 60m records respectively. Sachin and Abhinaya Rajarajan fastest in U-16 and U-18 categories.

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).