CHENNAI: Hosts India received a tough fight from neighbours Sri Lanka as both won three gold medals each on the opening day of the junior South Asian Athletics Championship (SAAC) on Wednesday.
At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Abhinaya Rajarajan won gold by shattering the meet record in the women's 100m event. The 18-year-old Abhinaya clocked 10.77 seconds while compatriot V Sudheeksha (11.92s) and S Wijetungage (12.04s) of Sri Lanka finished second and third.
It was a one-two finish for Sri Lanka in the men's 100m event. Wijesinghe Merone (10.41s) and Weeraratna Dineth (10.49s) won gold and silver respectively while India's Mrutyam Jayaram (10.56s) settled for bronze.
Siddharth Choudhary started the day on a bright note for the hosts by securing the top spot in men's shot put. The 19-year-old made it count by throwing the iron ball 19.19m in his fourth attempt. He came close to breaking his meet record in the fifth attempt but fell short by a close margin. His compatriot Anurag Singh's best effort of 18.91m earned him a silver while Jayavi Ranhidha (15.62m) of Sri Lanka finished third.
Indian high jumper Pooja, who broke the junior national record at the World junior Championships two weeks ago, won the gold medal and breached the championship record with a best effort of 1.80m. Pooja did not have much competition in her discipline with DK Timeshi (1.65m) and Nethra Samadi (1.65m), both from Sri Lanka, finished in second and third spots.
"I was thinking of breaking the meet record from the start and I managed to do it in the end. I then attempted for 1.84m, but unfortunately could not get through," Pooja said.
In the men's 800m event, Sri Lanka's Shavindu Avishka (1:49.83) pipped Indians Vinod Kumar (1:50.17) and Bopanna Klappa (1:50.45) while Abhisheka Pemasiri (2:10.17) of Sri Lanka took the honours in the women's section.
