Delhi's Tushar breaks 46-second barrier to win gold in 400m at Indian Open U23 Athletics Competition

Delhi quarter-miler Tushar Kanti Manna and Haryana javelin thrower Jyoti were cynosure of all eyes as y bettered meet records on penultimate day of Indian Open U23 Athletics Competition here on Sunday.

While Manna broke meet record as well as 46-second barrier to win gold in 400m, Jyoti improved upon her own javelin throw meet record.

Manna shifted gears in home stretch to post a winning time of 45.92 seconds in men’s 400m, which was better than meet record of 46.58 seconds set in 2021 by Ayush Dabas.

At javelin throw arena, defending champion Jyoti was unstoppable. She surged ahe of or competitors on her opening throw but got a big throw on her fifth attempt (58.49m), which was better than her own previous meet record of 52.77m set in 2023.

She h a series of 54.92m, 55.83m, 57.41m, 54.27m, 58.49m and 55.40m.

Jyoti’s teammate Deepika also bettered previous meet record. Her silver-medal winning throw was 54.71m.

Odisha 's Animesh Kujur and Sudeshna Hanmant Shivankar of Maharashtra emerged as fastest male and female athletes of meet.

Kujur clocked 10.40 seconds, while Sudeshna's winning time was 11.76 seconds.

National senior record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar of Karnataka finished fourth in men's 100m dash with a time of 10.68 seconds. His national record stands at 10.23 seconds.

On his way to winning gold, Haryana ’s Abhimanyu equalled men’s discus throw meet record of 53.66m set last year by Dinesh Kumar in Chandigarh.

Two women high jumpers -- Gobika K of Tamil Nu and Payal of Gujarat -- equalled meet record of 1.76m. Gobika won gold, while Payal settled for silver.

Ankita, who competed in women’s 5,000m at Paris Olympic Games, me her debut at 3,000m steeplechase event. She won gold with a time of 10:17.25 seconds.