Puneet Yadav, a strapping 19-year-old from Haryana, caught the eye with a smart victory as he led a bunch of eight men who finished the 10,000m with 15 seconds of one another in the second AFI National Open U23 Athletics Championships at the BR Yadav Stadium in Behetrai here today.
Running his maiden 25-lap race at the national level, Puneet Yadav did well to stay in the lead group, ensuring that he would be in the best position to sprint to victory. He won in a time of 29:44.64, nearly a minute faster than Kartik Kumar’s winning time (30:41.66) in the inaugural championships in New Delhi last year.
Delhi’s Rohit Kumar, who was sixth in a pacy race in the recent National Games, took bronze behind Farookh Choudhary (Uttar Pradesh). Sumit Goliyan had originally finished third but was disqualified for being over-age.
The men’s Triple Jump final saw a thrilling finish. Tamil Nadu’s S Robinson claimed the lead with a personal best effort of 15.56m only to watch his team-mate J Mohanraj produce a 15.65m hop, step and jump for his personal best legal effort. Kerala’s Akash Varghese stunned them both by regaining his lead with a 15.70m try that will go down as his personal best.
Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) won the women’s Triple Jump on a countback after Karnataka’s Pavithra tied her best effort with a 12.79m try. Anusha’s second best effort was 12.78m while Pavithra could not go past the 12.73m mark as her second best effort. Haryana’s Mimansa Dahiya took bronze with 12.75m.
Yogita Kumar, fourth last year, produced a personal best effort of 14.90m to claim the women’s Shot Put gold today. Four of the Haryana athlete’s puts, beginning with her opening try of 14.50m, were good for her to win the crown with her best coming on her third visit to the circle. Last year’s bronze medalist V Ambika (Karnataka) took silver this time.
The results (finals):
Men
10000m: 1. Puneet Yadav (Haryana) 29:44.64; 2. Farookh Choudhary (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 Reegan G (Tamil Nadu) 4.80.
Triple Jump: 1. Akash Varghese (Kerala) 15.70m; 2. J Mohanraj (Tamil Nadu) 15.65; 3. S Robinson (Tamil Nadu) 15.56.
Women
10000m: 1. Soniya (Uttarakhand) 37:32.66.
Triple Jump: 1. Mallala Anusha (Andhra Pradesh) 12.79m; 2. Pavithra (Karnataka) 12.79; 3. Mimansa Dahiya (Haryana) 12.75.
Shot Put: 1. Yogita Kumar (Haryana) 14.90m; 2. V Ambika (Karnataka) 14.34; 3. Prity Chakraborty (West Bengal) 13.10.
Hammer Throw: 1. Tanya Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 53.72m; 2. Sneha Jadhav (Maharashtra) 52.03; 3. Aishwarya (Haryana) 50.36.
