NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2024

A TH L E T I C S F E D E R AT IO N O F IND IA
Athletics Federation of India
SEPTEMBER - 2024
www.indianathletics.in

NEERAJ CHOPRA CHASES

A BRUSSELS HIGH
WHAT’S INSIDE
pg. 02 I To pursue bigger goals, World pg. 04 I Uttar Pradesh’s promising steeplechase
U20 bronze medallist in race-walking runner on a record breaking spree, aims to follow
moves to Nilgiris hills in Avinash Sable’s footsteps
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 A T H L E T I C S F E D E R ATIO N O F IND IA SEPTEMBER - 2024

To pursue bigger goals, World U20

bronze medallist in race-walking
moves to Nilgiris hills

Medal winners of women’s 10km race walk at 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships held in Lima.

I
ndia’s World U20 bronze medallist in race- Aarti’s performance in Lima was nearly three
walking, Aarti will be based out of Coonoor minutes better than her national U20 record
in the Nilgiris hills to pursue bigger goals. She clocked earlier this year in Chandigarh. “She
clocked 44:39.39, a national record, in the (Aarti) has the potential to do better at the
women’s 10,000m race walk at the August 27 senior level too,” the army coach said.
to 30 World Athletics U20 Championships in
Lima (Peru). Aarti’s imminent goal is to improve her race
walk technique. Achieving excellence in
After an exhilarating experience in Peru, senior international competitions in 2026 is her
the teenager from Haryana will shift to Tamil future goal.
Nadu and train under the tutelage of former
international race walker and army coach The 2025 season will act as a transition phase
Basant Bahadur Rana. from junior to senior level, the coach added.

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At senior level the distance for race walk will

be 20km. Graduating to that distance from China’s Zhuoma Baima
10km will be a daunting task. But the World
U20 bronze medallist, who celebrated her
won gold with a world
18th birthday on September 6, is prepared to lead time of 43:26.60.
tackle the distance.
Compatriot Meiling Chen
“The goal is to be successful at the 2026 won silver.
Asian Games. To achieve that I’ve to start
now,” the World U20 bronze medallist said with The Indian race walker continued to stay
an air of confidence. with the lead group till the 8km mark. At the
9km she was in contention for silver medal,
For Aarti, the global competition in Lima but wasn’t able to push hard in the closing
was an enriching experience. “I’ve learned stages and settled for bronze with a national
so much in Lima that I will cherish throughout U20 record.
my sporting career,” said India’s lone medal
winner in Lima. China’s Zhuoma Baima won gold with
a world lead time of 43:26.60. Compatriot
To get acclimatized to the local weather Meiling Chen won silver.
conditions, the Indian contingent reached
Lima five days prior to competition. Aarti said her legs were too tired to shift gear
in the final stages. “But I was happy that I
In the build up to the World U20, Aarti won improved my national U20 record in Lima,”
the Asian U20 bronze in 10,000m in April. She she added.
was hopeful of a better time in Lima as her
preparation had gone well, the army coach Off the track, the Indian race walker enjoyed
said. “The main goal in Lima was to hang on the local delicacies. “In the build up to the
with a leading bunch of athletes as long race I didn’t taste local food because I was
as possible,” the coach added. “The strategy a bit scared of spoiling my routine. However,
was successful and she (Aarti) could win after the event I enjoyed a local non-veg
bronze.” meal, including chicken,” she revealed.

Pooja improves national U20 high jump record

Haryana’s international high jumper, Pooja was one of the three Indian
athletes who improved the national U20 record during the August 27
to 31 World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima. Sharuk Khan (3,000m
steeplechase) and Aarti (10,000m race walk) were the others. During the
qualification round in Lima, Pooja cleared 1.83m, which was better than
her own national record of 1.80m. However, in the final she wasn’t able
to further improve her performance and settled for a lower position in
the medal round. The Indian 4x400m mixed relay quartet also missed the
podium, finishing fifth with a time of 3:22.92 secs in the final. The men’s
4x400m relay team clocked 3:08.10 in the preliminary round, but finished
outside the medal bracket in the final.

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Uttar Pradesh’s promising steeplechase

runner on a record breaking spree, aims to
follow in Avinash Sable’s footsteps
Sharuk Khan twice broke the national U20
3,000m steeplechase record at the 2024 World
Athletics U20 Championships held from August
27 to 30 in Lima, Peru. He finished sixth in his heat
with a time of 8:45.12, a national U20 record, to
advance to the medal round. Encouraged by the
good performance in the preliminary round, the
teenager from Uttar Pradesh further lowered his
own national U20 record to 8:42.06 seconds. He
finished 10th in the final.

Narrating his experience of the World U20, the

promising distance runner said the final was a
tough race. “I made efforts to keep pace with
the leading group in the final. But the pace was
too fast. After the opening 1000m, I lost contact.
Thereafter, I decided to run my own race and
do better than the preliminary round,” the young
steeplechase runner explained. “It was a satisfying Sharuk Khan
race as I further lowered the national U20 record.”
gave a big boost to my confidence,” he said.
Sharuk hails from Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. He
joined Lucknow’s Sports College in 2018. Initially his What’s the next goal for the young steeplechase
focus was middle distance, but he shifted to the runner? Sharuk Khan acknowledges that
3,000m steeplechase in 2023. steeplechase is a very demanding race and he
wants to stay healthy and at the same time move
He immediately found success and established up to the senior level.
himself as a leading runner at junior level. He has
been on a record-breaking spree after switching “The knees and ankles often hurt after the race. I
to steeplechase. He clocked 9 minutes 5 seconds, was on the injured list earlier in April, but managed
a national U20 record, in his second attempt to qualify for the World U20.” The teenager made
over the distance in a gruelling event that has 28 his appearance at senior level in 2023 but finished
barriers, including seven water jumps. He further sixth. “I could have done better but someone
improved his personal best and national record to stepped on my ankle with the spikes and it was
8:51 at the 2023 Asian U20 meet in Korea. He won hurting during the race,” he said.
silver.
“Going by his performance in the junior level
He missed the 2024 Asian U20 meet due to he has the potential to make a big impact at the
personal reasons, but looked strong during the senior level too,” N Ramesh, chief junior athletics
World U20 in Lima. “My performance in the heats coach, added.

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My next target is to qualify for 2025

World Championships, says Kerala’s
Asian Games medallist Ancy Sojan
Kerala’s Asian Games medallist in long
jump, Ancy Sojan has plans to make
a good impression at the 2025 World
Athletics Championships. The 23 years
old won gold with a distance of 6.71m
at the just concluded 63rd National
Open Athletics Championships held in
Bengaluru. Her performance of 6.71m
in Bengaluru, was personal and season
best. She also walked away with the best
female athlete award of the domestic
meet.

She, however, narrowly missed the

meet record of 6.74m set by Anju Bobby
George in 2002.

“My performance of 6.71m in Bengaluru

was a big boost to my confidence,”
Ancy added. “My main goal next year
will be to further improve my personal
best.”

Ancy’s personal best in 2023 was 6.63m.

She won silver at the Hangzhou Asian
Games held in China in 2023.

Ancy and World U20 silver medallist,

Shaili Singh were the main attraction at
the jumping arena this year. However,
both the athletes missed out the 2024
Paris Olympic Games qualification mark.

Based out of Bengaluru, Ancy was

hopeful of a more productive 2025
season. “Good health and staying away
from injuries will be an important factor
for steady performance in 2025,” she
Ancy Sojan
added.

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National Open Athletics Championships in

Bengaluru was good platform for young
athletes to showcase their potential

T
he just concluded 63rd National Open
Athletics Championships in Bengaluru was
the last domestic track and field meet of
the calendar but several athletes grabbed
the opportunity to showcase their potential, chief
athletics coach Radhakrishnan Nair said.

Army’s Asian Games bronze medallist in

10,000m, Gulveer Singh and Asian Games 400m
hurdles bronze medallist, Vithya Ramraj of Tamil
Nadu were two prominent athletes who didn’t
miss the chance to establish themselves atop the Vithya Ramraj
field and erased the long-standing meet records
in their respective events.

On her way to gold in women’s 400m hurdles,

Vithya Ramraj bettered PT Usha’s meet record
of 56.80 seconds set way back in 1985. The Tamil
Nadu runner representing Railway Sports in the
National Open Athletics Championships clocked
56.23 seconds.

The army’s distance runner and national record

holder in both 5,000m and 10,000, Gulveer Singh, Gulveer Singh
continued his dominance at the domestic level.
He won the gold medal in the 5,000m with a meet
record of 13:54.70 seconds. The previous record National Open Athletics Championships.
of 13:54.72 seconds was in the name of Bahadur
Prasad set in 1994. On their way to winning gold medals, Amit of
Haryana and Payal of Railway Sports, improved the
Tamil Nadu’s Nithin also sprinted to glory in the meet record. Amit clocked 2:38:00.00 to better the
men’s 200m race. He won 200m gold with a time previous time of 2:39:05 set by Ram Babu in 2022.
of 20.66 seconds, a meet record. Previous time of
20.74 seconds was set by Animesh Kujur in 2023. While Payal clocked 3:02:24 to improve her own
meet mark of 3:04.48 set in 2022.
Away from track and field, the grueling 35km
race walking event was center of attraction. As expected, the Services team claimed the
Winner of gold medals in both men and women’s men’s trophy with 137 points. The women’s title went
35 km race walk entered their names in the to Railways (201 points). Railways team was also
record books on the penultimate day of the 63rd declared overall champions with 318 points.

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Indian contingent for SAAF junior championships in Chennai

India’s promising 3,000m steeplechase runner, Sharuk Khan, will be among 55-member
national team, including 27 in women’s group selected by Athletics Federation of India (AFI)
that will compete at the September 11 to 13 South Asian Athletics Federation (SAAF) Junior
Championships scheduled to be held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and
Maldives have also confirmed their entries for three-day competition.

Indian team: Men: Varun Oori Manohar, Women: Abinaya Rajarajan, V

Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati (100m), Partik Sudheeksha (100m), Unnathi Aiyappa
Maharana, Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati Bolland, Neeru Pathak (200m), Neeru
(200m), Jay Kumar, Rihan Ch (400m), Vinod Pathak, Sandra Mol Sabu (400m), Laxita
Kumar, Bopanna Klappa (800m), Rahul Vinod Sandilea, Tanvi Malik (800m),
Sarnaliya, Priyanshu (1500m), Sharuk Khan, Laxita Vinod Sandilea, Vinita Gurjar
Mohit Choudhary (3,000m steeplechase), (1,500m), Prachi Ankush, Shilpa Dihora
Hariharan Kathiravan, Nayan Pradip Sarde (3,000m), Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland,
(110m hurdles), Sagar Roy, Juwel Thomas Sabita Toppo (100m hurdles), Pooja,
(high jump), Mohd Atta Sazid, RC Jithin Mohur Mukerjee (high jump), Prathiksha
Arjunan (long jump), Bhupendra Bisht, Yamuna, Lakshanya SN (long jump),
Raviprakash (triple jump), Anurag Singh Kaler, Rishika Awasthi, Prathiksha Yamuna
Siddharth Choudhary (shot put), Ritik, Atul (triple jump), Tamanna, Pooja Kumari
(discus throw), Dipanshu Sharma, Rohan (shot put), Amanat Kamboj, Anisha
Yadav (javelin throw) and 4x100m relay (discus throw), Deepika, Poonam
(M Jayaram Dondapati, Mahendra Santa, (javelin throw), 4x100m relay (Abhinaya
Karthikeyan S, Varun Oori Manohar, Vallipi Rajarajan, V Sudheeksha, Nancy, Neole
Himateja). Anna Cornelio, Rujula Amol Bhonsle).

I N D I A P L A Y S H E R E

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