Ashish Yadav Wins World U20 Javelin Silver for India

Ashish Yadav won silver in the men’s javelin throw to open India’s medal account on day three of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, USA. The 19-year-old produced a best throw of 74.09m in the third round of the final, finishing behind South Africa’s Jan-Hendrik Heymans.

Yadav’s medal was India’s first of the championships and placed him alongside Neeraj Chopra as the second Indian to win silver in the men’s javelin event at the World U20 Championships. His 74.09m effort was 40cm shy of his personal best of 74.49m, set at the Indian Open Throws Competition in Patiala in March.

Yadav delivers India’s first medal

Heymans secured gold with an 80.50m throw on his sixth and final attempt. The mark was the season’s U20 world lead. Dominica’s Addison James took bronze after reaching 73.89m.

India had two athletes in the men’s javelin final. T Dharanidharan finished sixth with a best throw of 72.35m, while Yadav’s third-round performance proved enough to secure second place.

Yadav had entered the season after raising his personal best to 74.49m and had also won silver at the Junior Federation Cup with 73.12m. His result in Eugene followed a fifth-place finish at the Asian U20 Championships in Hong Kong in May, where his best was 69.58m, and a third-place finish at the Indian Athletics Series-9 in Ludhiana with 72.27m.

Neeraj Chopra, who won gold and set the still-standing world junior record of 86.48m at the 2016 edition in Poland, congratulated Yadav on social media. Chopra described it as a proud moment to see Indian athletes competing and winning internationally, adding that Yadav’s silver at the U20 Worlds was just the start.

Yadav, who is from Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, trains at the IIS-SAI centre in Hisar, Haryana, under head coach Arvind Kumar.

More Indian athletes advance in Eugene

Elsewhere on day three, national senior record holder Pooja Singh qualified for the women’s high jump final after clearing 1.79m. Fourteen athletes across the two qualification groups cleared that height and were awarded places in the final. Pooja holds India’s senior national record of 1.93m.

India also had two qualifiers in the men’s long jump. Shahnavaz Khan advanced after finishing fourth in Qualification Group A and fifth overall with 7.73m on his third and final attempt. Jithin Arjuna took the final available place in the field, finishing 12th overall after a 7.57m effort on his third attempt. Italy’s Daniele Inzoli was the only athlete across the qualification groups to clear the automatic qualifying distance of 8m, reaching 8.15m.

In the men’s 400m final, Mohommed Ashfaq finished eighth in 46.20 seconds. Ashfaq had broken the U20 national record in the first-round heats a day earlier with 45.81 seconds. American Jayden Deleon won gold in a championships-record 44.47 seconds, ahead of fellow American Quincy Wilson, who clocked 44.62 seconds, and South Africa’s Leendert Koekemoer, who ran 44.96 seconds for bronze.

Poonam did not advance to the women’s javelin final, finishing eighth in her qualification group and 13th overall with a best throw of 48.81m.