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Jeswin Aldrin won the men's long jump gold medal at the National Games 2022 with a meet-record leap of 8.26m, which also helped him qualify for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
The Tamil Nadu long jumper's winning leap at the IIT Gandhinagar athletics track on Saturday measured 0.1m above the automatic World Athletics Championships 2023 qualifying standard of 8.25m. Jeswin Aldrin first claimed the National Games record when he leapt 8.21m on his third try. Even as Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Murali Sreeshankar passed his last four attempts, Jeswin Aldrin improved to 8.26m with his last attempt. Murali Sreeshankar eventually ended with silver with a best effort of 7.93m while Muhammad Anees Yahiya won bronze with a best leap of 7.92m. Andhra Pradesh's Jyothi Yarraji, meanwhile, stunned a star-studded field, including national record holder Dutee Chand and Hima Das, to win the women's 100m gold medal. Jyothi Yarraji is the national record holder in the women's 100m hurdles but she scorched the track in 11.51 seconds to take a memorable win. "I didn't come here thinking of winning or losing. I just wanted to clock a good time and that helped me come up with my fastest race," Olympics.com quoted Jyothi Yarraji as saying. She was quick to thank and appreciate the role played by star sprinters Dutee Chand (Odisha) and Hima Das (Assam). Dutee Chand finished sixth while Hima Das came in seventh. "They have always encouraged me and I thank them for their support. I am just happy that I won and don't think on the lines that I beat them," Jyothi Yarraji noted Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu) and Diandra Valladares (Maharashtra) won the silver and bronze medals respectively, in the blue riband event of the day. A few minutes earlier, another national record holder, Amlan Borgohain won the men's 100m gold medal, clocking 10.38s in the final. The 23-year-old from Assam had registered a timing of 10.28s in the semi-finals and though he could not improve on that performance in the medal race, he was more than happy. "You know, it's like a stage show, sometimes you perform, sometimes you don't," Amlan Borgohain stated. "In those few seconds, there is no time to think. You simply focus on executing your game plan. I don't think about the hot weather much. It is the same for everyone," he explained. The Assam sprinter feels that his performance may inspire many youngsters to take up athletics in the northeast. "We have many footballers, weightlifters and boxers and now we are not so bad in athletics either," he said. (ANI)
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