Ranvir Kumar Singh and junior National record-holder Ekta Pradeep Dey won the men’s and women’s 3000m steeple chase gold at the Asian under-20 athletics championships in Dubai on Thursday.
Ranvir clocked 9:22.67s for the men’s title, while Ekta played a patient waiting game and won the women’s gold in 10:31.95s. Another gold came from Anurag Singh Kaler in the men’s shot put (19.23m) with defending champion Siddarth Choudhary (19.02) taking the bronze.
Meanwhile, Vinod Singh (men’s 5000m, 14:09.44s) and Amanat Kamboj (women’s discus, 50.45m) won silver medals. Nikita Kumari, the junior Federation Cup women’s discus throw champion with 50.17m in Lucknow last month, was fourth with 46.84m.
There were two bronze medals too, from Aman Chaudhary in the men’s 400m (47.53s) and from junior National record holder Aarti in the women’s 10,000m race walk. Aarti achieved the qualification standard for the under-20 Worlds with her time of 47:45.33s.
There was some disappointment in the women’s 400m, with Anushka Kumbhar (56.52s) and junior Federation Cup champion Sai Sangeetha Dodla (57.26s) finishing fifth and seventh respectively. Both had clocked much faster timings in Lucknow last month.
