Indian Athletes Shine at World U20 Athletics Championships

Aarti secured a bronze in the women's 10000m race walk at the World U20 Athletics Championships, setting a national U20 record with a time of 44:39.39. Additionally, Pooja Singh set a new national U20 record in high jump, qualifying for the finals with a height of 1.83m.

Aarti won a bronze medal in the women's 10000m race walk event, setting a new national U20 record to kick off India's medal tally at the World U20 Athletics Championships on Friday.

The 17-year-old recorded a time of 44 minutes 39.39 seconds to claim third place in the intense competition on the second-to-last day of events.

Aarti surpassed her previous national record of 47:21.04, set in March, when she won the gold medal at the National Federation Cup U20 Championships in Lucknow.

In the same event, Chinese athletes Zhuoma Baima and Meiling Chen secured the gold and silver medals, respectively, with times of 43:26.60 and 44:30.67.

Meanwhile, on Thursday night, Pooja Singh broke the national U20 women's high jump record, clearing 1.83m to finish second in her qualification group and ninth overall, thereby securing her place in the finals scheduled for Saturday.

Pooja, from Fatehbad district in Haryana, improved upon her previous national record of 1.82m, set last year while winning silver at the Asian U20 Championships in Korea.

(With inputs from agencies.)