CHENNAI: Not long after Ashish Yadav's silver medal, high jumper Basant Kumar Meghwal continued India's medal run to win silver on Day four of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene on Sunday. The 19-year-old, who hails from Anupgarh, a border town in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district, matched his personal-best effort of 2.21m. He had cleared this mark at the Junior Federation competition in April in Bengaluru.
Algeria's Younes Ayachi won the gold, while Great Britain's Otis Poole took the bronze. All the three medallists could only clear 2.21m but failed all their three attempts to sail over 2.24m. The positions were thus decided on countback based on the number of attempts to clear the previous height. Ayachi cleared 2.21m in his first jump, while the Indian and Poole did the same in their second and third attempts respectively. Meghwal's silver also made him the first Indian to win a medal in the high jump at the World U20 Championships.
Basant's 2026 is marked with a breakthrough. Coached by former women's high jump national record holder Sahana Kumari, his best marks plateaued at the 2.11m mark for the first two years of his career as a jumper (2024 & 2025). Then in March this year, he went past it by jumping past 2.14m at the Indian Open jumps competition in Bengaluru. Then, his capacity increased to the mid 2.10-metre range.
With the likes of Sarvesh Kushare, Tejaswin Shankar and Aadarsh Ram underlining India's depth, Basant's medal gives more encouragement. Credit needs to be given for Kumari, too. Her time with junior jumpers like Basant and current NR holder in women's high jump Pooja Singh has shown in events. But in the beginning, Basant's father and farmer Gangaram Meghwal, who also doubles up as driver and daily wage labourer, was the main driving force for Basant to take up sports.
Bronze for Shahnavaz
India's medal tally then rose to three at the championships after Shahnavaz clinched bronze in the men's long jump with a best effort of 7.84m. The 18-year-old produced his best jump in his third attempt, with his series reading 7.67m, 7.72m, 7.84m, 7.52m, 7.83m and 5.37m.
R.C. Jithin Arjunan was the other Indian in the final, finishing eighth with a best jump of 7.59m that he achieved in his first and fourth attempts. Italy's Daniele Inzoli won the gold medal with a jump of 7.97m, while Australia's Mason McGroder took silver with a personal best of 7.96m. Meanwhile the Indian women's 4Ă—400m relay team qualified for the final round after finishing third in the heat race, clocking 3:39.53s. The Indian team comprised Bhoomika Nehate, Tahura Khatun, Tanu Chaudhary and Thiya Arumugam.