Youth Athletics C’ships: Rakesh Gond breaks national record

The pole-vaulter from Uttar Pradesh comfortably wins gold; Supriya shocks Rubina in girls high jump.

Rakesh Gond broke the national record by a massive 15 centimetres.

Uttar Pradesh’s Rakesh Gond broke the Under-18 boys national pole-vault record by a massive 15 centimetres and comfortably won the gold in the 15th National youth athletics championships at the Manjalpur Sports Complex, Vadodara, on Saturday.

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Meanwhile, in a major upset, Karnataka’s S. B. Supriya shocked Haryana’s Under-20 National record holder Rubina Yadav and won the girls’ high jump gold. Both Supriya (1.75m) and silver medallist Rubina (1.73) bettered the meet record while Kerala’s Gayathry Sivakumar, last year’s inter-State National women’s champion, picked the bronze with 1.69.

Some of the big names, like Asian junior champion Anu Kumar and Tamil Nadu’s Asian Youth Olympics qualification meet gold medallist Sreekiran Nandakumar along with Delhi sprinter Nisar Ahmad, who came up with some impressive timings last year, have pulled out of the event.

• Boys
• 3000m: 1. Sunil Singh (MP) 8:33.57s, 2. Ravi Dahiya (Har) 8:34.43, 3. Puneet (Har) 8:40.17. 2000m steeple chase: 1. Md Noor Hasan (UP) 5:54.37s MR, OR 6:00.28; 2. Atul Gamit (Guj) 5:58.13, 3. Manish Sharma (MP) 6:01.31. Pole vault: 1. Rakesh Gond (UP) 4.90m NR, OR 4.75; 2. Shekhar Kumar Pandey (UP) 4.40, 3. Ganesh Priyan (TN) 4.20. Discus throw: 1. Aniket Kala (Utkd) 56.26m, 2. Ikram Ali Khan (MP) 54.63, 3. Dhanvir Singh (Pjb) 53.11. Javelin throw: 1. Rohit Yadav (UP) 77.41m, 2. Suraj Kumar (UP) 72.77, 3. Sudama Kumar Yadav (Bih) 71.06.

• Girls
• 3000m: 1. Ankita Dhyani (Utkd) 10:14.37s, 2. Pragati Mulane (Mah) 10:19.80, 3. Muskan Chotiara (Guj) 10:25.15. 2000m steeple chase: 1. Kajal Sharma (UP) 7:11.99s MR, OR 7:21.23; 2. Vaishnavi Sawant (Mah) 7:17.61 BR, 3. Vandana Mori (Guj) 7:37.41. High jump: 1. S.B. Supriya (Kar) 1.75m MR, OR 1.70, 2. Rubina Yadav (Har) 1.73, 3. Gayathry Sivakumar (Ker) 1.69. Pole vault: 1. R. Sreelakshmi (Ker) 2.50m, 2. Navana Lakshmi (Ker) 2.30. Discus throw: 1. Pooja (Har) 39.97m, 2. Neetika Verma (UP) 39.09, 3. Srushti Ulavappa Kaliwal (Kar) 37.68.