South Asian Junior meet | Siddharth, Pooja and Abinaya break meet records

Siddharth and Pooja set new meet records in shot put and high jump events at South Asian junior athletics meet.

India’s Siddharth Choudhary and Pooja created new meet records in the men’s shot put and women’s high jump events respectively in the South Asian junior athletics meet here on Wednesday. In the last event of the day, Abinaya Rajarajan of India clinched the gold in the women’s 100m in a record time of 11.77s.

Pooja comfortably won gold at 1.80m, which was better than the previous meet record of 1.75m. She tried to improve on her National u-20 high jump record of 1.83m set recently in Peru at the 2024 World u-20 meet but failed to cross the bar at 1.84m.

Earlier, Siddharth hurled the iron ball to a record distance of 19.19m. His compatriot Anurag Singh Kaler won silver with a distance of 18.91m. Sri Lanka dominated the middle distance events, winning gold in men’s and women’s 800 events.

The results: Men: 100m: 1. Wijesinghe Merone (Sri Lanka) 10.41s (NMR) (OR: A. Yesudas, 10.61, Ranchi, 2013), 2. Weeraratna Dineth (SL) 10.49, 3. Mruthyam Rajaram (IND) 10.56; 800m: 1. H.D. Shavindu Awishka (SL) 1:49.83s (NMR) (OR: P. Verma, 1:52.99, Colombo, 2007), 2. Vinod Kumar (IND) 1:50.07, 3. Bopanna Klappa (IND) 1:50.45; Shot put: 1. Siddharth Choudhary (IND) 19.19m (NMR) (OR: A. Bhalothia, 18.53, 2018, Colombo), 2. Anurag Singh Kaler (IND) 18.91, 3. A. W. Jayavi Ranhidha (SL) 15.62.

Women: 100m: 1. Abinaya Rajarajan (IND) 11.77s (NMR) (OR: A. Silva, 11.92, 2018, Colombo), 2. V. Sudheeksha (IND) 11.92, 3. S. Wijetungage (SL) 12.04; 800m: 1. M.G.T. Abhisheka Premasiri (SL) 2:10.17, 2. Laxmi Priya Kisan (IND) 2:10.87, 3. U.M. Sansala Himashani (SL) 2:12.13; High jump: 1. Pooja (IND) 1.80m (NMR) (OR: D. Ranasinghe, 1.75m, 2007, Colombo), 2. D.K. Timeshi (SL) 1.65m, 3. V.P. Nethra Samadi (SL) 1.65m.