Ashfaq breaks U20 400m national record, reaches World Championships finals

Mohammed Ashfaq continued his impressive run at the World Athletics U20 Championships by breaking the Indian U20 national record and qualifying for the men's 400m final in Eugene, USA, on Thursday.

The 19-year-old clocked 45.81 seconds in the opening round to better his own U20 national record of 46.05s, set earlier this season, and finished second in his heat behind American Jayden DeLeon (45.63s).

Ashfaq followed it up with another strong performance in the semi-finals, clocking 46.00s to finish third in his heat and secure an automatic qualification for the final, scheduled for August 8 at 9:23 am IST.

Compatriot Piyush Raj, however, bowed out after finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 47.78s.

Amanat records personal best in discus final

In the women's discus throw, Amanat Kamboj produced a personal best effort of 53.24m to finish sixth in the final.

China's Su Yixin claimed the gold medal with a throw of 61.06m, while American Jaslene Massey (58.41m) and Cyprus' Marina Hadjicosta (54.88m) secured silver and bronze respectively.

India also had reason to celebrate in the men's high jump, where Basant qualified for the final after clearing 2.14m, finishing fifth in Group A and 11th overall. K. Ambriesh, however, failed to progress after managing 2.05m.

Elsewhere, Anshu narrowly missed out on a place in the women's shot put final after finishing 14th overall with a best throw of 15.24m.

Tanu Chaudhary's campaign in the women's 400m hurdles ended in the heats after she clocked 1:00.03, while Amit Kumar also exited in the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 54.01s.

India's challenge in the men's triple jump qualification also came to an end as P. Royshan (15.20m) and Dhanush Raj (14.71m) failed to qualify for the final.