Asian U20 Athletics Championships: Deepanshu Sharma secures gold; Ritik, Rohan and Priyanshu bag silver on Day 1
Team India started the Asian U20 Athletics Championships 2024 with a total of four medals, including one gold and three silver medals.
Deepanshu Sharma secured a gold medal in the men’s javelin throw event on the first day of the campaign in Dubai on Wednesday, April 24. Meanwhile, Rohan Yadav and Ritik (52.23m) clinched silver medals in the men’s javelin throw and men’s discus throw categories, respectively, on Day 1 of the competition.
Deepanshu Sharma threw a distance of 70.29m and his Uttar Pradesh statemate Rohan Yadav had his best throw of 70.03m.
On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh’s Priyanshu grabbed the silver medal after coming very close to winning the gold medal in the men’s 1500m discipline but he suffered a defeat at the hands of Qatar’s Aitoulghazi. Priyanshu grabbed the silver medal, clocking 3:50.85 seconds.
Meanwhile, Prachi Ankush Devkar finished fourth in the women’s 3000m event while Laxita Vinod Sandliea and Tanvi Malik progressed to the women’s 800m final after the heats.
Furthermore, Anushka Dattatray Kumbhar and Sai Sangeetha Dodla made it to the medal round in the women’s 400m event. Male quarter-miler Aman Choudhary also secured his spot in the final.
Interestingly, Aman was named only in the 4x400m relay in the Indian team list. Bapi Hansda and P Abiram, who were supposed to run the individual 400m, did not make it to the start list for undisclosed reasons.
All about Asian U20 Athletics Championships
Notably, a total of 60 Indian athletes - 31 men and 29 women - are participating in the Asian U20 Athletics Championships 2024. It’s important to note that the Championships is also a qualifying event for the World U20 Athletics Championships, which will take place in Lima, Peru, from August 27 to 31.
In the Asian U20 Athletics Championships 2023, India secured 19 medals to finish third in the table behind Japan and the People’s Republic of China.
The 19 medals include six golds clinched by Bharatpreet Singh (discus throw), Siddharth Choudhary (shot put), Rezoana Mallick Heena (400m), Laxita Sandilea (1500m), women’s 4x400m relay team, and Sunil Kumar (decathlon).
The Indian contingent is expected to add more medals to their tally on the second day of the ongoing campaign.