Asian U20 Athletics C’ships: Pooja breaks 12-year-old high jump national record
This is the second time Pooja has gone past her personal best this season after breaching the 1.90m mark at the Indian Athletics Series, New Delhi in April.
With the mark of 1.93m, Pooja won the gold medal making it her second medal at the Asian U20 Championships. With this gold medal, she now holds both senior and junior titles at the continental level.
She also breached the Commonwealth Games qualification mark set by Athletics Federation of India.
This is the first time any Indian high jumper has gone beyond the 1.92m mark after Sahaha Kumari’s national record mark of 1.92m in 2012.
After her personal best at the Asian Athletics Championships last year, Pooja was forced off the track due to a grade-2 ligament tear.
However, after returning from injury, Pooja started training under a new coach, Sergey Biran from Uzbekistan. Sergey is the husband of Svetlana Radzivil, a three-time Asian Games champion and brings immense knowledge of the sport.
This is India’s fourth gold of the event with Nitin Gupta (5000m racewalk), Amanat Kamboj (Discus Throw), and Rahul Jakhar (Decathlon) also winning the title.
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