CHENNAI: Dandi Jyothika Sri (Andhra Pradesh) and Ayush Dabas (Haryana) turned in fine performances to win the women and men’s 400m with personal best times in the inaugural National U20 Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday. It placed them as the second and fifth fastest Indian quarter-milers respectively this year.
Dandi Jyothika Sri, keen to overcome memories of a disqualification in the National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal a fortnight ago, carried confidence to the track. Only Kiran Pahal chose to not run in the meet. Jyothika Sri’s key rivals were Nancy (Haryana) and Florence Barla (Jharkhand).
Jyothika Sri, who is from the town of Tanuku in Andhra Pradesh but trains in Hyderabad, won in 53.05 seconds. It was an improvement on her previous best of 54.70.
It was also the fastest time by an Indian woman on Indian soil this year, going past MR Poovamma’s 53.45 and was only the second fastest after the 52.77 that Priya H Mohan clocked in the World U20 Championships.