14 junior national records created in Athletics Nationals

As many as 14 junior national records and 24 meet marks were created in the four-day 34th Junior Athletics Championships which concluded at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium here on Monday.

Avantika Narale of Maharashtra set a new meet record in the U-16 girls 200m sprint on the final day on Monday. Narale, a 15-year-old from Pune, ran past the rest of her field to claim gold with an impressive time of 24.96 seconds.

Jeevanji Deepthi of Telengana was second in 25.09 seconds. Up and coming 14-year-old Shaili Srivastava claimed the bronze medal for Uttar Pradesh with a time of 25.60 seconds.

Narale was no stranger to the track, having won a gold medal in the 100m sprint at the Khelo India School Games earlier this year.

In Ranchi, Narale shaved 0.02 seconds off the previous meet record of 24.98 seconds set by Asian Games silver medalist Dutee Chand nine years ago at the Warrangal edition of the Junior National Championships in 2009.

Another sprint meet record was set by Nisar Ahmed of Delhi in the U-18 boys 200m race. Ahmed clinched the gold medal with a time of 21.50 seconds.

He bettered the earlier record of 21.59 seconds set by Jijin Vijayan of Kerala in 2011. The national mark of 21.33 seconds stands in the name of Amiya Malik.

To put Ahmed's effort into perspective, his time of 21.50 seconds was .16 faster than that posted by Amit Kumar Yadav of Uttar Pradesh (21.66 seconds) who claimed the gold medal in the 200m race for U-20 men's runners in the same Championships.

Rising middle distance runner Tai Bamhane also set a meet record in her name while winning the girls U-16 800m race.

Bamhane clocked 2.12.85 seconds to better the previous meet record of 2.13.00 seconds set by Chinchu Jose nearly 12 years ago at the 2006 Junior National Championships in Bangalore.