Athletics
Indian Open Athletics: P Yashas clocks an Asian lead time in 400m hurdles
Yashas made a good start on his return to the circuit as this was his first competition after a gap of one year.
P Yashas (left) and Amlan Borgohain (right) in action at the Indian Open Athletics Metting in Nadiad, Gujarat. (Photo Credits: AFI)
Yashas Palaksha made a good start to the year by clocking a time that is better than the current Asian lead of 400m hurdles and won the Indian Open athletics meeting in Nadiad, Gujarat, on Saturday.
Yashas, returning after a one-year gap, clocked a time of 49.63 seconds, which is the best in Asia this year. But, this might not be recorded as AFI is not counting the official records for the Indian Open meets.
However, this will help him to qualify for the upcoming Federation Cup, which is a major qualifying tournament for the Asian Athletics Championships.
Yashas is currently one of the best Indian hurdlers and also competed for India at the Asian Games in 2023, finishing fifth in the final of men's 400m hurdles with a time of 49.39s.
On the other hand, National record holder Amlan Borgohain, representing Reliance, took the men's 200m title with a timing of 21.27s, edging past Jay Shah of Maharashtra, who finished second with 21.59s.
Later, he doubled his tally with the 100m title, clocking a decent time of 10.59s.
Pooja equals her own U20 National record
The young sensation, high jumper Pooja, continued her rhythm to win the women's high jump title, equalling her own personal best of 1.85m.
This was her first event since her National Games gold medal-winning performance of 1.84m earlier this year in Uttarakhand. She will now be preparing for the marquee event of the Federation Cup in Kochi, Kerala, later this month.
