Junior Federation Cup Athletics: Rupal Chaudhary pips Priya Mohan to the post for 400m gold, both qualify for World U20 Championships

Uttar Pradesh’s Rupal Chaudhary outsprinted her more fancied rival Priya Mohan of Karnataka to win gold in the women’s 400m race on the second day of the 20th National Federation Cup U20 Athletics Championships in Nadiad, Gujarat, on Friday.

Rupa pipped Priya to the tape to win the day’s honour, clocking 52.48 seconds as compared to Priya’s time of 52.49 seconds. Both Rupal and Priya have also qualified for the World U20 Athletics Championships scheduled for August 1-6 in Cali, Colombia.

The gold and silver medalist in the women’s 400m of the Junior Federation Cup, in fact, dipped below the World Championships qualification mark of 55.40 seconds during the preliminary round itself, on Thursday.

The World U20 Athletics Championships in Colombia will be Priya’s second outing in the age group global competition. At the 2021 World U20 Athletics Championships held in Kenya, Priya finished fourth in the individual 400m event.

She was also a member of the Indian mixed 4x400m relay squad that won bronze. Rupal, meanwhile, will make her debut at the World U20 Championships this year.

India’s talented sprinter Hima Das has been the most successful track athlete at the World U20 competition for her country. She won gold at the 2018 edition held in Finland. In the field events, India’s star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won gold in the 2016 edition of the Championships in Poland.

Other winners on day 2 of Junior Federation Cup

Women’s 400m sprinters apart, athletes in the 100m dash too achieved the World U20 qualification mark.

Uttar Pradesh's upcoming sprinter Priyanka Sikarwar won gold in the women’s 100m event of the Junior Federation Cup. Her gold medal winning time of 11.88 seconds was better than the World U20 qualification time of 11.90 seconds.

In the preliminary 100m rounds on Thursday, Priyanka’s performance was better than 11.90 seconds. Friday’s gold medal further cemented her place in the national squad.

The winner of men’s 100m dash, Aman Khokhar of Uttar Pradesh, clocked 10.56 seconds to better the qualifying time of 10.60 secs.

Telangana’s Agasara Nandini (women’s 100m hurdles) and two throwers Sanyam and Sawan (men’s shot put) have also achieved qualification standards for the World U20.

On the penultimate day of the Junior Federation Cup, three race walkers in the men’s 10km race walk have also cemented their place in the national team. India’s Amit Khatri won silver in the men’s 10km race walk in the 2021 edition of the World U20. Saturday is the final day of the competition.