Asian under-20 athletics championships: Laxita betters personal best to win women’s 800m silver

Laxita Vinod Sandilea bettered her personal best by more than a second as she won the women’s 800m silver at the 21st Asian under-20 athletics championships in Dubai on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Gujarat, the under-20 Asian champion in the 1500m last year in South Korea, gave a good fight to Japan’s Nishida Yuri before settling for silver in 2:07.10s (previous best 2:08.24). Tanvi Malik, the other Indian in the final, was sixth (2:13.42).

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Shreeya Rajesh took a bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles in 59.20s while her teammate Jeyavindhiya Jegadish finished sixth (1:02.06s).

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After an eventful Thurday, the championship’s second day when India won four golds, Friday was a bit of a disappointment with Sachin finishing fourth in the men’s 10,000m race walk (45:50.56s) while his teammate Himanshu was disqualified.

And in the women’s hammer throw, the Indian duo of Nadini and Anushka finished fifth (56.99m) and sixth (55.81m) respectively.

The bright spots came from the men’s 4x100m relay which finished second in its heat (40.43s) and entered the final. Also making the final were Sabita Toppo (14.10s) and Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland (13.72s) in the women’s 100m hurdles.