National Junior Athletics C'ships: Nishchay breaks U18 discus meet record

Haryana’s towering teenage thrower Nishchay was cynosure of all eyes on the fourth day of the 40th National Junior Athletics Championships being held here at Kalinga Stadium.

On Monday, Nishchay etched his name in record books by hurling disc (1.5kg) to a distance of 63.69m to win gold in U18 boys’ group. His gold medal-winning throw was better than the previous meet record of 60.17m set by Atul in 2022 in Guwahati.

Nishchay had a series of 63.56m, 63.69m, 61.22m, no mark, 62.62m and no mark. Nishchay had also won shot put gold (19.48m) in the competition.

Rajasthan’s Vishal Kumar, winner of silver (60.90m) also improved the previous meet record. Usman Ali Khan of Madhya Pradesh settled for bronze (58.81m).

The World U20 Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in 2026 in Oregon, USA, qualification mark in men’s U20 discus throw (1.75kg-1.5kg) is 56m. Going by Nishchay’s performance today, he will be one of the strong contenders to earn a place in the national team.

For a record, Vaibhav from Himachal Pradesh, winner of U20 men’s discus throw (1.75kg), gold medal-winning throw in Bhubaneswar was 55.75m.

Record-breaking performance was witnessed in U20 200m races. Odisha's sprinter Pratik Maharana’s gold medal-winning time of 21.24s in U20 men's 200m was better than the previous meet record of 21.26s set by Veeresh Mathur in 2023.

Uttar Pradesh international runner Neeru Pathak continued her good run in the sprints. On Monday she won 200m dash in the U20 women's group with a time of 24.05s to improve the meet record of 24.14s set by Sakshi Chavan in 2024. Neeru had also won gold in U20 400m.

Day four results

Men

U20: 200m: Pratik Maharana (Odisha) 21.24s (meet record. previous time 21.26s by Veeresh Mathur in 2023), Jasjit Singh Dhillon (Punjab) 21.59s, Arnav Takalkar (Maharashtra) 21.65s

400m hurdles: Vishnu (Tamil Nadu) 51.74s, Gurudeep Singh (Tamil Nadu) 52.02s, Bhushan Patil (Karnataka) 52.07s

U20: Shot Put (6kg): Sai Kiran A (Telangana) 18.42m, Anuj Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 18.31m, Omkar Prasad Nand (Odisha) 18.24m

U18: Boys: 200m: Chiranth P (Karnataka) 21.81s, Jashanpreet Singh (Punjab) 21.94s, Seshu Duddu (Andhra Pradesh) 22.09s

U18: Boys: Discus throw (1.5kg): Nishchay (Haryana) 63.69m (meet record. previous record of 60.17m set by Atul in 2022 in Guwahati), Vishal Kumar (Rajasthan) 60.90m, Usman Ali Khan (Madhya Pradesh) 58.81m

U18: Boys: 5km race walk: Tushar Panwar (Uttarakhand) 20:11.35s, Firdous Alam (Assam) 20:16.30s, Prashant Kumar (Madhya Pradesh) 20:21.73s

U16: Boys: Pentathlon: Imran Alam (Bihar) 3911 points, Tanish (Uttar Pradesh) 3891 points, Hitesh Singh (Uttarakhand) 3874 points

Women

U20: 200m: Neeru Pathak (Uttar Pradesh) 24.05s (meet record. previous record 24.14s by Sakshi Chavan in 2024), Suba Dharsini S (Tamil Nadu) 24.35s, Kajal Vaja (Gujarat) 24.74s

U20: 800m: Vaishnavi Rawal (Karnataka) 2:07.84s, Payal (Haryana) 2:08.27s, Geetika Dahiya (Haryana) 2:09.18s

U20: 400m hurdles: Muskan (Haryana) 1:01.75s, Apurva Naik (Karnataka) 1:02.56s, G Prithika (Tamil Nadu) 1:02.79s

U20: Shot put (4kg): Tamanna (Haryana) 15.08m, Anupriya VS (Kerala) 14.49m, Alka Singh (Bihar) 14.03m

U20: Heptathlon: Sriteja Tholem (Telangana) 4654 points, Harshita (Delhi) 4383 points, Priya (Haryana) 4173 points

U18: Girls: 200m: Aarti (Haryana) 24.25s, Monika Raha (West Bengal) 24.75s, Rashi Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 24.91s

U18: Girls: 3,000m race walk: Ranjana Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) 13:41.55s, Vedanti Mangutkar (Maharashtra) 13:45.07s, Sumanpreet Kaur (Punjab) 13:51.63s

U16: Girls: Pentathlon: Anamika Ajesh (Kerala) 4096 points, Prema Venkatesan (Tamil Nadu) 3935 points, Sathvika Sakthivel (Tamil Nadu) 3883 points

Yesterday’s Pending Results

U18: Boys: 1000m medley relay: Tamil Nadu 1:54.85s, Maharashtra 1:55.34s, Bihar 1:55.34s

U16: Girls: 1000m medley relay: Maharashtra 2:17.36s, Karnataka 2:19.43s, Kerala 2:22.92s

U18: Girls: Long jump: Sadhana Ravi (Tamil Nadu) 5.94m, Obami Murmu (West Bengal) 5.74m, Ananya S (Kerala) 5.69m

U18: 1000m medley relay: Tamil Nadu 2:11.58s, Maharashtra 2:12.45s, Jharkhand 2:20.04s

U20: Women: 4x100m relay: Maharashtra 47.72s, Karnataka 47.75s, Kerala 49.47s

U20: Men: 4x100m relay: Karnataka 41.71s, Tamil Nadu 41.73s, Punjab 41.76s

U18: Boys: 1000m medley relay: Uttar Pradesh 1:58.38s, Tamil Nadu 1:59.89s, Maharashtra 2:00.51s