Deepanshu wins gold in Javelin at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships

Deepanshu Sharma of Uttar Pradesh won a gold medal in the men’s javelin event at the Asian under -20 athletics championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 24 April 2024. Competing in the same event, Rohan Yadav won the silver medal.

Deepanshu won the gold by throwing 70.29 metres, while Rohan, also from Uttar Pradesh, threw a best of 70.03 metres.

The 21st Asian Under 20 athletics championship is being organised by the Asian Athletics Association in association with the UAE Athletics Federation in Dubai from 24 April-  27 April 2024.

India at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships 2024

Sixty Indian athletes, including 31 men and 29 women, are competing at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships 2024.

The 21st Asian U20 Athletics Championships is also a qualifying event for the World U20 Athletics Championships 2024. The 2024 World U20 Athletics Championships will be held in the Peruvian capital city of Lima from 27 to 31 August 2024.

India won 19 medals in the 20th Asian U20 Athletics Championships held in Yecheon, South Korea, last year. It stood third on the medal table behind Japan and China.

In Yecheon, the 19 medals included six golds won by Siddharth Choudhary (shot put), Bharatpreet Singh (discus throw), Sunil Kumar (decathlon), Rezoana Mallick Heena (400m), Laxita Sandilea (1500m), and the women’s 4x400m relay team.

Medal winners for India at the 21st Asian U20 Athletics Championships 

On the first day of the championships, Ritik won India's first medal. He won a silver medal in the men’s discus throw event with a best throw of 53.01 metres.

Deepanshu won the gold, and Rohan won a silver medal in the javelin events.

The final medal of the day was won by Priyanshu, who won the silver medal in the 1500 metres. The gold medal was won by Qatar's  Aitoulghazi.

On the second day (25 April 2024) of the championship, Aarti won a bronze medal in the women’s 10,000 m race walk, which was 47:45.33sec at Asian U20 in Dubai. She also bettered the World U20 qualification time of 49 minutes.

Asian U 20 Athletics Championship 

• The Asian Athletics Association organises the Asian U20 athletics championship, an annual event in which boys and girls under the age of 20 compete in various athletics events.
• The event was earlier organised as the Asian Junior Athletics Championship, which was renamed the Asian U20 Athletics Championship.
• The first Asian U20 championship was held in 1986 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• The 20th U20 athletics championships were held in Yecheon, South Korea in 2023.
• China is the most successful team in the U-20 championship history, having won a total of  605 medals, including 304 gold medals, before the start of the Dubai edition.
•  India is in fourth place overall in the medal tally with  243 medals, including 55 gold medals.

Asian Athletics Association 

Asian Athletics Association is the governing body of men’s and women’s athletics in Asia. It is affiliated with World Athletics, the world governing body of Athletics.

Headquarters: Pathum Thani, Thailand

President: Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad