Hong Kong, May 30 (IANS) Indian athletes added three more gold medals to the tally on the penultimate day of the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong on Saturday. Nikhil Chandrashekar (3000m steeplechase), Basant (high jump), and Shahnavaz Khan (long jump) swelled the Indian gold medal tally to seven. India won four gold medals on Friday.

Nikhil Chandrashekar sprinted home to victory in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. His winning time of 9:25.44 seconds was a personal best.

Shahnavaz Khan added a second gold medal as he dominated the men’s long jump. His best jump of the day was 7.84m. Compatriot Jithin Arjunan Raman Chandrasekaran won silver with a jump of 7.66m. India’s third gold on Saturday came through Basant in the men’s high jump. He cleared 2.20m.

Aarti added bronze to the medal tally. She finished third in the women’s 200m with a time of 24.12 seconds, a personal best. Bhumika Sanjay Nehate finished a close fourth with a time of 24.13 secs. In the women’s javelin throw, India’s Poonam finished eighth with a throw of 46.55m.

China is leading the medal tally with ten gold medals. India, with seven golds, is currently second on the table.

Earlier on Friday, India’s talented high jumper Pooja improved the national and meet record on the second day of the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships being held in Hong Kong.

On her way to winning the gold medal with a jump of 1.93m, Pooja improved the decade-old national record of 1.92m set by Sahana Kumari in 2012. Pooja’s performance on Friday was also better than the previous Asian U20 meet record of 1.90m set by Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekistan in 2006.

–IANS

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