Athletics
SAAF Junior Athletics C'ships: Pooja, Siddharth, Abinaya win gold
India won a total of nine medals on the first day of the event despite the domination of Sri Lanka in track events.
India had a mixed start to the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Chennai, as they won three gold medals on the first day but missed out on a few to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
The competition started for India with a top-two finish in the junior men's shot put event where Siddharth Choudhary broke the meet record and won the gold medal with a season-best throw of 19.19m.
He finished ahead of his compatriot and Asian U20 champion, Anurag Singh Kaler, who won silver with the best throw of 18.91m.
Thereafter, India added another gold in the field event when the 17-year-old, Pooja, won the women's high jump title with a leap of 1.80m.
Pooja tried to break her own national U20 record of 1.83m, which she made earlier this month at the World U20 championships in Lima, Peru. But, she failed her three attempts on 1.84m and missed out on a new U20 national record.
Sri Lanka shines in track events
The Sri Lankan team had a very good outing in the track events, winning three out of the four gold medals in track. They won gold medals in both men's and women's 800m finals.
In men's 800m, Shavindu Awishka of Sri Lanka won the gold medal with a timing of 1:49.83. He had a great dash in the last few meters to leave behind two Indians Vinod Kumar (1:50.07) and Bopanna Klappa (1:50.45) in silver and bronze positions respectively.
On the other hand, Abhisheka Pemasiri of Sri Lanka won the gold medal with a timing of 2:10.17 in a tight finish against the Indian runner, Laxmi Priya Kisan (2:10.87), who won the silver medal.
Their final gold medal came in the men's 100m race where they made a top 2 finish in the final ahead of India's Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati, who won a bronze medal clocking a timing of 10.56s.
However, India topped the medal tally after the first day on the virtue of their third gold medal, won by Abinaya Rajarajan (11.77s) in women's 100m ahead of the compatriot V Sudheeksha (11.92s), who won silver.