Bengaluru: Rising talent Pooja Singh surpassed a two-decade-old meet record and the 14-year-old senior national mark to become the first Indian to win the Asian junior title in women's high jump. The 19-year-old from Haryana cleared 1.93 meters at the Asian U-20 Athletics Championship in Hong Kong. In doing so, she surpassed Svetlana Radzivil's 2006 meet record of 1.90 meters and Sahana Kumari's national record of 1.92 meters. Sahana, who is at the event as team coach, guided Pooja.
Pooja, who is supported by Olympic Gold Quest and trains under Uzbek coach Sergey Biran, also made the Athletics Federation of India's cut for the Commonwealth Games, which was set at 1.92 meters. This was Pooja's second medal at the Asian U-20 Championships, upgrading the silver medal won in 2023 with a clearance of 1.83 meters. She won the Asian Championships in South Korea last year.
