Ramu, Tharanesh break national records at junior athletics championships

Telangana’s Lodenge Ramu broke the men’s Under-18 400m national record as four records fell on the second day of the National Junior Athletics Championships in Chennai. Tharanesh C, Chuki Birda and Tanu Chaudhary also rewrote national or meet records

Hyderabad: Four records were broken in track and field events on the second day of the 41st National Junior Athletics Championships 2026 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

Telangana’s Lodenge Ramu broke a decade-old national record in the men’s Under-18 400m. His gold-winning time of 46.80 seconds bettered Chandan Bauri’s previous record of 46.99 seconds, set in 2015. The meet record of 47.48 seconds was set last year by Sayed Sabeer.

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Uttar Pradesh’s promising 400m runner Tanu Chaudhary also entered the record books in the women’s Under-18 category. She won gold in 53.40 seconds, bettering the previous meet record of 53.85 seconds set by Jisna Mathew in 2015.

Rajasthan’s Chuki Birda won gold in the women’s Under-20 pole vault with a height of 3.91m, improving on Vanshika Ghanghas’s national record of 3.90m set last year. The previous meet record of 3.80m was set by Karthika V.

Tamil Nadu’s Tharanesh C also improved the boys’ Under-16 shot put national record. His gold-winning throw of 17.86m bettered Nitesh Kumar’s previous mark of 17.42m, set in 2024.

Results

Men

Under-20

400m: Vaibhav Bhardwaj (Uttar Pradesh) 47.45 seconds; Raj Chauhan (Maharashtra) 47.64 seconds; Thanish Gaddam (Maharashtra) 47.68 seconds.

Long jump: Jithin RC (Tamil Nadu) 7.64m; Ayush Yadav (Delhi) 7.51m; Dhanush Raj M (Kerala) 7.50m.

Discus throw: Devansh Jagga (Punjab) 55.35m; Yashraj Jain (Madhya Pradesh) 54.13m; Usman Ali Khan (Madhya Pradesh) 53.74m.

Hammer throw: Kartik (Uttar Pradesh) 67.54m; Aman (Uttar Pradesh) 67.19m; Mohd Abdulla (Uttar Pradesh) 64.96m.

Decathlon: Jakhar Rahul (Gujarat) 7,125 points; Abhay Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 6,697 points; Aryan Prakash (Madhya Pradesh) 6,288 points.

Under-18

400m: Lodenge Ramu (Telangana) 46.80 seconds (national record); Manas Shinde (Maharashtra) 47.24 seconds; Aditya (Haryana) 47.79 seconds.

Javelin throw: Krishan Chandra (Madhya Pradesh) 74.83m; Pushpak Nelwade (Karnataka) 73.43m; Salauddin (Madhya Pradesh) — distance not provided.

Boys

Under-16

Shot put: Tharanesh C (Tamil Nadu) 17.86m (national record); Varadraaj Jagtap (Maharashtra) 17.10m; Abhishek Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 17.08m.

Under-14

Triathlon A: Saurav Bind (Uttar Pradesh) 2,195 points; Rajveer Gurjar (Rajasthan) 2,179 points; Barno Das (West Bengal) 2,137 points.

Women

Under-20

400m: Tahura Khatun (West Bengal) 54.64 seconds; Vanshika Rathi (Uttar Pradesh) 55.08 seconds; Maya (Punjab) 55.11 seconds.

Pole vault: Chuki Birda (Rajasthan) 3.91m (national record); Jeena Basil (Kerala) 3.80m; Tanishka Dayma (Madhya Pradesh) 3.50m.

Under-18

400m: Tanu Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 53.40 seconds (meet record); Sehnoor Bawa (Punjab) 54.27 seconds; Sahaya Jemima (Tamil Nadu) 55.66 seconds.

Girls

Under-16

Shot put: Tejaswini G Rao (Karnataka) 13.48m; Hanpreet (Haryana) 13.10m; Jayani Patil (Maharashtra) 12.33m.

Under-14

Triathlon A: Meera Bobal (Delhi) 2,617 points; Yazhini AM (Tamil Nadu) 2,503 points; Tamanna (Punjab) 2,448 points.