Junior World Athletics Championship: Telangana’s Nandini qualifies for 100m hurdles finals

Hyderabad: Telangana’s Agasara Nandini became the first Indian athlete to qualify for the 100m hurdles final in the ongoing U-20 Junior World Athletics Championship held in Cali, Colombia on Saturday.

The 18-year-old Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) student clocked 13.34 seconds to break her national record of 13.58 seconds in the 100m hurdles.

Meanwhile, Indian triple jumper Selva P Thirumaran improved his personal best to clinch the silver medal. The 17-year-old managed a distance of 16.15m to finish two centimetres ahead of Estonia’s Viktor Morozov. The gold went to Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert who broke the Championship Record with his 17.27m effort. Thirumaran’s silver-winning jump came in his second attempt.

The Indian women’s team qualified for the 4x400m relay finals.

The quartet of Summy, Priya Habbathanahalli Mohan, Rajitha Kunja and Rupal clocked 3:34.18 to finish second in heat 3 and fourth fastest overall.

Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was the first Indian to win a gold in the championships in 2016 in Poland.

Indian athletes have picked up three medals at the tournament, which was earlier known as World Junior Championships, so far, including two silver and a bronze.

In the last edition in Nairobi in 2021, India had won three medals — 2 silver, 1 bronze.