Stealing the limelight, Kerala athlete Ancy Sojan grabbed two gold medals in Under-21 category on the third day of track and field events in the Khelo India Youth Games here on Sunday.
Sojan produced an impressive 6.36m performance to win the women’s U-21 long jump event before emerging the fastest woman of the Games by grabbing a gold medal in the 100m dash by clocking 12.21 seconds.
The 18-year-old Sojan broke the U-21 long jump meet record with her personal best performance. She also broke the U-20 national record, eclipsing the earlier mark of 6.30m in U-20.
Her effort was impressive, considering that the best effort at the senior level in women’s long jump last season was 6.42m in the name of Rintu Mathew.
A student of the Nattika Government Fisheries Higher Secondary School at Thrissur in Kerala, she had a 6.24m jump in the Kerala State School Meet last year. She had won four gold medals in the SGFI National School Athletics Championship in Sangrur last month.
Tamil Nadu’s Sherin Abdul Gafoor won the silver with a best jump of 6.30m in a thrilling competition.
Hours after winning the long jump event, Sojan picked up the 100m gold.
Haryana’s Nuzrat Ali emerged as fastest male athlete by claiming the U-21 100m gold in 10.77 seconds.
Telangana’s Jeevanji Deepthi and Tamil Nadu’s Ruthika Saravanan won the gold and silver respectively in the girls U-17 100m race after both clocked 12.26 seconds in a photo finish.
Jharkhand’s Sadanand Kumar won the boys U-17 100m race in 10.95 seconds while Maharastra’s Akash Singh was second.
Madhya Pradesh’s Ikram Ali Khan won the men’s U-21 discus throw with a new meet record of 53.82m, edging out Haryana’s Abhay Gupta by just 1cm.
Pole vaulter Sandeep Kumar was Madhya Pradesh’s other gold winner on Sunday, clearing 4.05m in the boys U-17 competition.
In cycling, Maharashtra’s Madhura Waykar (U-21) and Pooja Danole (U-17) won the individual time trials to keep their state on top of the charts across disciplines.
Odisha’s Dinesh Kumar and Rajasthan’s Mukesh Kumar Kaswan won the boys U-21 and U-17 crowns.