National Youth Athletics Championships: Neeru breaks girls’ 400m national record

Neeru Pathak broke the girls’ 400m under-18 National record of former Asian junior champion Rezoana Mallick Heena while winning the gold at the 19th National youth athletics championships in Bilaspur on Sunday.

The 17-year-old from Delhi clocked 52.85s (old National youth record 52.98s) and also qualified for the under-20 Worlds (entry standard 55.40s) which will be held in Lima, Peru, in August. Punjab’s Mannat Brar, the silver medallist (55.84), finished three seconds behind Neeru.

Meanwhile, Odisha’s Bapi Hansda, who had missed the recent under-20 Asians in Dubai, bettered the boys’ 400m meet record clocking 47.12s (old record 47.58) and also made the cut for the under-20 Worlds.

Rajasthan’s Muskan broke the girls 1000m National record (2:51.11s, OR 2:58.40) while Khushu Yadav, from the same state, rewrote the five-year-old National record in girls 3000m race walk (13:35.58s, OR 14:14.83). In the boys 1000m, all the 11 who ran the race bettered the 14-year-old meet record with Delhi’s Mohammed Nooruddin taking the gold in 2:28.89s (old meet record 2:34.21).

Jharkhand’s Parth Singh, who clocked 10.68s and broke the previous meet record of 10.74s, and Tamil Nadu’s Abinaya Rajarajan (12.09s) emerged as the fastest boy and girl, respectively in 100m.