Shaili, Aaditya seek to showcase consistency

Long jumper Shaili Singh and high jumper Aaditya Raghuvanshi will be looking to extend their consistent run when they compete in the 17th MILO National Inter-District Athletics Meet beginning here on Saturday.

Bengaluru Urban district's Shaili Singh set the girls under-16 long jump National record at 6.15m in Guntur earlier this month.

Bhopal's Aaditya Raghuvanshi, who set the meet record at 1.86m here last year, jumped 1.95m in Guntur earlier this month. His winning effort was better than the 1.92m that the under-16 champion Sandeep Kumar had managed in the National Junior Athletics Championships. And that 1.95m clearance has caught the eye of the coaches.

There will also be attention on Jabalpur long jumper Sohail Akhtar who leapt 6.90m last year, just five centimetre short of the meet record. He will face competition from his state-mate Sandeep Singh.

Ranchi's Ashakiran Barla, the defending girls under-14 600m champion, has shown improvement in recent times. She won in a meet record time of 1:38.01 last year and the National Junior Athletics Championship earlier this month in 1:33.78.