The third edition of the National Open Under-23 Athletics Championships had a flying start at the Athletics Stadium in Sector-7 Sports Complex on Friday. The championship was formally inaugurated by Dharam Pal, Adviser to the Administrator. Athletes from various states of the country are taking part in the three-day championships.
As many as seven finals were held on the opening day. Two distance runners from Maharashtra, Shadab Pathan and Prajakta Shinde had won the 10,000m race for men and women respectively. Shekhar Kumar Pandey from Uttar Pradesh successfully defended his title in the men's pole vault. However, two other winners from last year's championships in Bilaspur, Akash M Varghese (Kerala) in men's triple jump and shot putter Yogita (Haryana) could not retain their titles as both of them returned with a bronze medal apiece in their events.
The men's shot put qualification event witnessed a new meet record which the Punjab's Dhanvir Singh achieved by heaving the iron ball to 18.25m. The previous mark of 17.79m was in the name of Samardeep Gill (Madhya Pradesh) since last year. Dharam Pal lauded the efforts of the Association for organising the event and encouraged the participants.