Anushka Yadav smashes hammer throw national record
Uttar Pradesh's 18-year-old hammer thrower Anushka Yadav produced a stunning performance on the opening day of the National Inter-State Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, breaking the nine-year-old national record with a throw of 67.02m. She bettered the previous mark of 65.25m set by Sarita Singh in 2017, becoming the youngest national record holder in Indian athletics.
Record-breaking sequence of throws
Anushka improved her personal best by over four metres, surpassing her previous official best of 62.89m from the National Games last year. She began with 62.07m, then broke the national record in the second round with 65.64m, followed by 64.81m in the third. After a 61.89m and a foul, she unleashed a massive 67.02m in her final attempt. Her first throw also exceeded the Asian Games qualifying mark of 61.72m set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
From 100m to hammer throw
Hailing from Baleni village in Baghpat district, Anushka initially wanted to run the 100m but shifted to hammer throw on the advice of her father Sushil Yadav, a former hammer thrower who remains her formative coach. She trains with three personal coaches, including her father and Chirag Yadav, at her local ground. She suffered a ligament fracture in March while fixing a tractor on her family farm but recovered in time for the championships. She started throwing the hammer at age 12. Currently ranked 11th among Asian hammer throwers this season, she aims to throw 70m and win gold at the Asian Games.
Dev Meena sets new pole vault record
In the men's pole vault, Madhya Pradesh's Dev Meena cleared 5.46m to break the previous national record of 5.45m, which he had jointly held with Kuldeep Kumar at the Federation Cup last month. Kumar finished third with 5.20m, while G Reegan of Tamil Nadu took silver with 5.30m. Both Meena and Kumar have been selected for the 32-member Indian team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Jyothi Yarraji makes triumphant return
National record holder in the 100m hurdles, Jyothi Yarraji, made a stunning comeback after a one-year injury layoff following ACL surgery in July last year. She ran 13.14 seconds in the heats to breach the AFI's Asian Games qualifying standard of 13.34 seconds, then won the gold in the final with an impressive 12.99 seconds. The 26-year-old, who won silver at the 2022 Asian Games, said, "I was expecting better timing but I felt so good. Exactly this day last year I got injured. The same day I came back to track and I showed up myself. It means a lot to me." She credited her coach James Hiller for his support, adding, "Mentally I'm 10 times better than before." Her national record stands at 12.78 seconds, set in 2023.
