All posts tagged: Asian U20 Athletics Championships

Pooja breaks 12-year-old high jump national record

Pooja breaks 12-year-old high jump national record

Published by Webster

2 min readMay 29, 2026 06:10 PM IST High jumper Pooja, 19, recorded a new personal best of 1.93m and broke the 12-year-old national record of 1.92m set by Sahana Kumari at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong on Friday. This is the second time Pooja has gone past her personal best this season after breaching the 1.90m mark at the Indian Athletics Series, New Delhi in April. With the mark of 1.93m, Pooja won the gold medal making it her second medal at the Asian U20 Championships. With this gold medal, she now holds both senior and junior titles at the continental level. She also breached the Commonwealth Games qualification mark set by Athletics Federation of India. After her jump at the Indian Athletics Series, Pooja had said that she is close to the national record and will get it soon. “My eyes are firmly set on the Asian Games but I have to break the national record for CWG. That was my target today but I couldn’t get it,” Pooja had …

Pooja Singh breaks 14-year national record, wins historic Asian U20 High Jump gold

Pooja Singh breaks 14-year national record, wins historic Asian U20 High Jump gold

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India enjoyed a historic day at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships as Pooja Singh, Rahul Jakhar and Amanat Kamboj delivered gold medals in their respective events. The standout performance came from 19-year-old Pooja Singh, who won India’s first-ever women’s high jump gold medal at the championships. Pooja cleared 1.93m to not only secure the title but also set a new senior national record. Her effort eclipsed the previous national record of 1.92m set by Sahana Kumari in 2012, ending a 14-year wait for a new benchmark in the event. The mark also surpassed the Commonwealth Games qualification standard of 1.92m, although it remains to be seen whether the Athletics Federation of India will grant her an exemption as the Federation Cup had been designated as the final qualifying event. Rahul Jakhar and Amanat Kamboj add to India’s medal haul India also celebrated a one-two finish in the decathlon as Rahul Jakhar clinched gold with 7,185 points while Upkar secured silver with 6,854 points. Rahul’s winning total established a new Indian U20 national record, underlining his …

Nipam ends India’s 25-year wait for Women’s 100m medal at Asian U20 Championships

Nipam ends India’s 25-year wait for Women’s 100m medal at Asian U20 Championships

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Nipam delivered a memorable performance on her international debut by winning the bronze medal in the women’s 100m at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships on Thursday. The 18-year-old clocked 11.62 seconds in the final to secure India’s first medal in the women’s 100m at the event in 25 years. Despite a slow start out of the blocks, the national U20 record holder recovered strongly during the race to finish on the podium. Qatar’s Dana Noor Salem claimed gold with a timing of 11.47 seconds, while China’s Xinxuan Chen took silver in 11.54 seconds. Nipam, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, currently holds the Indian U20 national record in the women’s 100m with a personal best of 11.53 seconds set earlier this year at a domestic competition. India records mixed results across opening day India narrowly missed another medal in the men’s 3000m event, where Vikas Kumar finished fourth with a personal best time of 8:24.88. In the women’s 400m heats, Neeru Pathak topped her heat in 54.42 seconds, while Tahura Khatun qualified for the final after …

Rezoana Mallick Heena, the sparkling youngster, looks to re-dazzle after an injury hiccup

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There was a glaring miss at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships held in Dubai in late April. Despite possessing an immensely talented quarter-miler at the youth level, India missed out on the women’s 400m gold. The defending champion, 16-year-old Rezoana Mallick Heena, could not make it to the continental championships as she was yet to recover from a hamstring injury sustained in November last. Her absence was felt even more when the Indian 4x400m mixed relay team were pipped by China in the final. Early in 2023, the scenario around women’s 400m was much more promising. Records galore Rezoana took the Indian athletics scene by storm. Standing at 5 feet 7 inches, she rose as a grand promise for India and rewrote quite a few records. She not only won the 400m gold at the Youth Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan but also broke the U-18 national record held by Jisna Mathew, clocking a magnificent 52.98s. She also rechristened the Championships record of 53.02s set by Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain eight years ago but …

Mother’s girl Pavana, Asian U20 long-jump gold medallist, focused on heptathlon

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Pavana Nagaraj has had a guide since when she took up athletics. She inherited the discipline from her parents and now is in the process of making it big. She has recently clinched the gold medal in the women’s long jump competition at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Dubai with a personal best effort of 6.32m. Now at the formative phase of her career, the 18-year-old does not need to crave help for her next career steps as her mother, Sahana Kumari, and father BG Nagaraj, have always been there to guide her. Sahana, the 2012 Olympian, herself was a women’s national high jump record holder, while Pavana’s father Nagaraj is an Inter-State men’s 100m champion. Nagaraj was also crowned the fastest man in India back then for recording a time of 10.50 seconds at the 2010 Asian Games trials. Focus on all-round development It was at Sahana’s advice that Pavana switched to the long jump from the high jump. Sahana, who is now a Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach, has been steadily …

Indian athletes aim for an improved show at Asian U20 C’ships

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The 21st edition of the Asian U20 Athletics Championships will get underway at the Dubai Police Officer’s Club on Wednesday. A 60-member Indian team, selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), will represent the country at the Championships. 31 male and 29 female athletes will look to qualify for the World U20 Athletics Championships to be held in Lima, Peru on August 27-31. At the last edition of the Asian U20 Championships held in Yecheon, Korea, the Indian contingent won 19 medals, including six gold, seven silver and six bronze to finish third behind Japan and China. All eyes will be on promising thrower Siddharth Choudhary and middle-distance runner Laxita Sandilea as they look to defend their shot put and 1500m titles in men’s and women’s disciplines. Similarly, expectations are soaring on India’s relay teams. N Ramesh, chief junior athletics coach, is optimistic about good shows by Indian athletes. “Last year the men’s 4x100m relay team won bronze while the 4x400m squad claimed silver,” the coach said. “This time we have good chances of …