Delhi's Tushar breaks 46-second barrier to win gold in 400m at Indian Open U23 Athletics Competition

Delhi quarter-miler Tushar Kanti Manna and Haryana javelin thrower Jyoti were cynosure of all eyes as they bettered meet records on the penultimate day of the Indian Open U23 Athletics Competition here on Sunday.

While Manna broke the meet record as well as the 46-second barrier to win gold in 400m, Jyoti improved upon her own javelin throw meet record.

Manna shifted gears in the home stretch to post a winning time of 45.92 seconds in the men’s 400m, which was better than the meet record of 46.58 seconds set in 2021 by Ayush Dabas.

At the javelin throw arena, defending champion Jyoti was unstoppable. She surged ahead of other competitors on her opening throw but got a big throw on her fifth attempt (58.49m), which was better than her own previous meet record of 52.77m set in 2023.

She had a series of 54.92m, 55.83m, 57.41m, 54.27m, 58.49m and 55.40m.

Jyoti’s teammate Deepika also bettered the previous meet record. Her silver-medal winning throw was 54.71m.

Odisha 's Animesh Kujur and Sudeshna Hanmant Shivankar of Maharashtra emerged as the fastest male and female athletes of the meet.

Kujur clocked 10.40 seconds, while Sudeshna's winning time was 11.76 seconds.

National senior record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar of Karnataka finished fourth in men's 100m dash with a time of 10.68 seconds. His national record stands at 10.23 seconds.

On his way to winning gold, Haryana ’s Abhimanyu equalled the men’s discus throw meet record of 53.66m set last year by Dinesh Kumar in Chandigarh.

Two women high jumpers -- Gobika K of Tamil Nadu and Payal of Gujarat -- equalled the meet record of 1.76m. Gobika won the gold, while Payal settled for silver.

Ankita, who competed in women’s 5,000m at the Paris Olympic Games, made her debut at the 3,000m steeplechase event. She won gold with a time of 10:17.25 seconds.