Jaipur, Oct 18 (IANS) Spotlight was on hammer throwers—Nirbhay Choudhary of Delhi and Haqikat Grewal from Punjab—as they erased meet records on the concluding day of the Sixth Indian Open U23 Athletics Competition 2026.
The three-day competition organised here at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Rajasthan also saw meet records broken in the men’s 400m hurdles and 10,000m track race on Sunday.
Choudhary’s best throw on Sunday —66.32m– was better than the meet record of 64.75m in the name of Nitesh Poonia (Rajasthan) set in 2022. Mohammad Shahban (Uttar Pradesh), winner of silver (65.27m) also bettered the previous meet record.
The competition was close in the women’s hammer throw. Haqikat surged ahead of her rivals in second attempt, but her last throw fetched her meet record (55.46m). The previous meet record (54.42m) was in the name of Tanya Chaudary.
Rajasthan’s Soniya, winner of silver, made efforts to close the gap, but her best throw on Sunday was 52.16m.
Top three finishers in men’s 10,000m bettered the meet record of 29:44.64 set by Puneet Yadav in 2022. Gold medal went to Maharashtra’s Gaurav Bhaskar (29:34.52).
Karna Bag of West Bengal won gold in men’s 400m hurdles with a time of 50.27 seconds to improve the meet record of 50.29 seconds set by Arjun Pradeep (Kerala) in 2025.
Results (Day-three):
Men: 200m: Yuvraj E (Tamil Nadu) 21.01 seconds, Dondapati M (Odisha) 21.04 seconds, Nayan Shah (Maharashtra) 21.11 seconds.
800m: Akashdeep Singh (Punjab) 1:50.10 seconds, Shyam Milan Bind (Uttar Pradesh) 1:50.62 seconds, Naresh Gurjar (Air Force) 1:51.10 seconds.
10,000m: Gaurav Bhaskar (Maharashtra) 29:34.52 (meet record), Satyam (Uttar Pradesh) 29:36.45, Mohit Choudhary (ONGC) 29:37.19.
400m hurdles: Karna Bag (West Bengal) 50.27 seconds (meet record), Aryan Prajwal (JSW) 50.28 seconds, Vignesh B (Navy) 51.33 seconds.
3000m steeplechase: Ranvir Kumar (Gujarat) 8:59.46, Ritesh Kumar (Haryana) 9:00.34, MD Nooruddin (Delhi) 9:00.42.
Triple jump: Yuvraj K (Tamil Nadu) 15.64m, Pradeep Kumar (NCOE Bengaluru) 15.51m, Dablu Roy (BSF) 15.49m.
Hammer throw: Nirbhay Choudhary (Delhi) 66.32m (meet record), Mohammad Shahban (Uttar Pradesh) 65.27m, Prateek (Haryana) 59.20m.
Javelin throw: Shashank Patil (Karnataka) 76.16m, Aditya (Haryana) 75.48m, Manish (Haryana) 74.50m.
High jump: Aaditya Raguvanshi (Madhya Pradesh) 2.10m, Jomon Joy (Kerala) 2.10m, Shyam Sunder (Air Force) 2.10m.
21km half marathon race walk: Nitin Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) 1:29:51.00, Sachin Garhwal (Rajasthan) 1:30:04.00, Tushar Panwar (Uttarakhand) 1:30:19.00.
Women:
200m: Sonika (Haryana) 23.97 seconds, Samriti Jamwal (Himachal Pradesh) 23.98 seconds, Sakshi Champalal (Gujarat) 24.11 seconds.
800m: Prateeksha Yadav (IOCL) 2:06.92 seconds, Laxmipriya Kisan (Odisha) 2:08.34 seconds, Harshika (Delhi) 2:08.59 seconds.
400m hurdles; Priyanka M (Karnataka) 1:00.25 seconds, Ashwini R (Tamil Nadu) 1:00.59 seconds, Apurva Anand Naik (Karnataka) 1:00.92 seconds.
3000m steeplechase: Prachi Devkar (IOCL) 10:26.21, Susmita Tigga (Odisha) 10:36.08, Nikita (IOCL) 10:45.10.
Triple jump: Marymukta Soreng (Odisha) 12.57m, Varshitha C (Karnataka) 12.50m, Monika (Haryana) 12.36m.
Hammer throw: Haqikat Grewal (Punjab) 55.46m (meet record), Soniya (Rajasthan) 52.16m, Shivani Sharma (Haryana) 49.68m.
Javelin throw: Deepika (JSW) 51.43m, Poonam (JSW) 50.45m, Jyoti (Haryana) 49.50m.
Heptathlon: Bidisha Kundu (West Bengal) 5260 points, Tanishka Sharma (Delhi) 4800 points, Magudeeshwari S (Tamil Nadu) 4720 points.
–IANS
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