Anushka Yadav wins hammer throw at National Open Athletics Championships in New Delhi
Anushka Yadav won the women's hammer throw with a mark of 66.53m on Saturday at the National Open Athletics Championships in New Delhi, bettering the previous meet record held by Manju Rani by more than two metres. The 18-year-old national record-holder secured the national champion title on day three of the meet.
Yadav, one of the Asian Games competitors to contest the championships, finished fifth at Aichi-Nagoya earlier this year; her 66.53m effort on Saturday surpassed that Aichi-Nagoya performance and, the report noted, "could have helped her finish one position higher and ahead of teammate and former NR holder Tanya Chaudhary." The victory rounded off what the report described as an eventful year for the teenager.
In the men's shot put, Karanveer Singh (Pun) claimed gold with a best of 19.63m at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, improving on the 18.40m he produced at the Asiad where he had finished 10th. Railways' Sanyam finished second with 18.32m, the same mark as teammate Anurag Kaler, but Sanyam edged Kaler on the back of a better second-best throw — 18.25m to Anurag's 18.10m.
Railways took the mixed 4x400m relay in 3:21.60, anchored by Kiran Pahal, who had been the fastest in the individual 400m heats before withdrawing from the semifinals; Vikrant Panchal moved from third to first on the third leg before handing to Pahal. Haryana and Rajasthan completed the podium in 3:22.43 and 3:25.54 respectively.
Bengal's Shampa Gain completed a 5,000m–10,000m double, adding the 10,000m title in 35:33.90 after winning the 5,000m on Day One. Shivaji Madappa, who had taken the 10k on Thursday, finished second in the men's 5,000m behind Sunil Dawar, with times of 14:02.81 and 14:01.64 respectively; Ajay Bind was third in 14:03.86.
Other women's event winners included RSPB in the 4x100m (45.56s) ahead of Odisha (45.57s) and Tamil Nadu (46.03s), Mubassina Mohd. (ONGC) in the long jump with 6.38m, and Baranica Elangovan (RSPB) in the pole vault with 4.10m — the report noted Elangovan had added the pole-vault gold after winning a medal at the recent Asian Games. In the javelin, Ramyashree Jain (RSPB) topped the field with 56.63m.
Men's sprint and jump results on Day 3 included SSCB winning the 4x100m in 39.76s ahead of RSPB (40.75s) and Haryana (41.37s). Rohit (RSPB) won the high jump with 2.19m; the report said he benefited from the absence of Sarvesh Kushare and Aadarsh Ram, while Jesse Sandesh and Aaditya Raghuvanshi were credited with 2.16m each.
The figures above constitute the published Day 3 results of the National Open Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
