Hurdler Rohan Kamble books semifinal berth in U-20 world athletics championships
August 20, 2021
The second day of the World Athletics U20 Championships at Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday went without a medal for Indians.
Amandeep Singh Dhaliwal, in men’s shot put, was the only Indian to figure in six finals held. In the men’s shot put, Amandeep, 19, had only one legal throw and finished last and 12th among the finalists with a distance of 17.08m in his third attempt.
In the qualification on Wednesday, Amandeep entered the final round with a throw of 17.92m and has a personal best of 19.15m.
The evening session was delayed by about two hours due to rain.
Before that Rohan Gautam Kamble qualified for the men’s 400m hurdles semifinals clocking 55.00 seconds for a fourth-place finish in the fifth heats. His teammate Hardeep Kumar was last among 33 competitors with a poor time of 1:12.80s after he stumbled before the hurdle on the home stretch. Actually Hardeep, 18, got off well from the blocks only to crash into the penultimate hurdle and it took him time to recover and to complete the event.
Anu Kumar came close to qualifying for the men’s 800m semifinals as he came fourth in the first heat with a timing of 1:50.26 seconds. Top three getting to qualify, Anu fell short as the last and 16th qualifier Paul Anselmini of France had a time of 1:50.23s. Anu was placed 17th among 30 competitors while in the women’s 800m event, Pooja clocked 2:10.66s to finish 16th among 29 rivals.
On Wednesday Indian quartet of Barath Sridhar, Priya Mohan, Summy and Kapil beat Jamaica to clinch the bronze medal with a time of 3 minutes 20.60 seconds but behind Nigeria and Poland.
In the men’s javelin throw qualification also on Wednesday, Kunwer Ajai Raj Singh Rana (71.05m) from Group A and Jay Kumar (70.34m) from Group B secured their places in the final to be held on Friday from 4.20pm IST. Rana has a season’s best of 74.75m while Kumar’s personal best is 72.29m.
Nandini Agasara (women’s 100m hurdles), Tejas Shirse (men’s 110mH), Pooja (women’s 1500m), Shaili Singh (women’s long jump), Shanmuga Srinivas Nalubothu (men’s 200m heats), Sunil Joliya (men’s steeplechase ) are the Indians who will compete on the third day.
