Bilaspur

Tamil Nadu’s Anushree KS won the first medal of the 19th National Youth (U-18) Athletics Championships that got underway here at the Bilaspur’s Athletics Stadium in Chhattisgarh.

Anushree’s gold medal winning throw of 42.73m came in her second attempt. Haryana’s Mahak won silver with a throw of 39.42m. while Mitali Halder of West Bengal took home bronze medal with a throw of 38.84m.

The day-one of men’s heptathlon saw Kerala’s Jinoy Jayan taking the lead with 2830 points in his kitty.

Royshan P of Tamil Nadu was second at 2678 points and Rajat Pundir of Haryana was trailing at third spot with 2542 points. Heptathlon has attracted overall 20 athletes. The day-one events were 110m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m.

The day-two events will be long jump, javelin throw and 1000m.

There was intense competition in the preliminary round in the men’s quarter-mile. Top three in both the semifinal rounds clocked below 49 seconds. Piyush Raj of Bihar led the pack with 48.10 seconds. If Raj is able to carry on the good work on Sunday’s final, he should be the winner in the 400m.

Delhi’s Neeru Pathak emerged fastest runner in women’s 400m semis. She clocked 54.94 seconds.

Sunday’s opening events will be women and men 5000m and 3000m race walk events.

The three-day competition in Bilaspur has attracted 626 competitors, including 242 female athletes.