Harshita Sehrawat continues fine run of form with Gold at Indian Open Throws Competition

Harshita Sehrawat and Damneet Singh won Gold in the women's and men's hammer throw events respectively. Harshita had a best effort of 59.08m, while Damneet also registered his season best of 65.69m.

Harshita said, "It feels good to win Gold but I had much higher expectations from myself. I have a whole month though before the Federation Cup, so I will work really hard and focus on the areas of improvement. I'm confident of doing even better over there," as quoted from a release by AFI.

Among the other Reliance Foundation athletes to medal on the day were Kachnar Chaudhary (silver in women's shot put), Karishma Sanil (bronze in women's javelin throw), Bhartpreet Singh (men's discus throw), Gaurav Patel (bronze in men's U20 javelin throw) and Virendra Yadav (bronze in men's U18 javelin throw).

Speaking about the display, Steve Lemke, throws coach at Reliance Foundation, said, "Our athletes put in a very good display, winning seven medals. Harshita and Damneet have been very consistent this year and this display will give them a lot of confidence for the Federation Cup next month. Our young javelin throwers, Karishma, Gaurav and Virendra all showed a lot of promise and will learn a lot from this experience as they look to have a good season."

Earlier, Haryana's Ujjawal Choudhary put in a splendid display on the opening day of the 4th Indian Open Throws Competition at the Jio Institute in Ulwe in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, winning the gold in the U20 discus throw event with a new national record. Choudhary's best of 59.34m broke the previous record of 58.11m.

Speaking after his win, Choudhary said, "I prepared in the pre-season in South Africa and was confident of doing well. I'm very happy that I broke the national record and am now targeting the Asian Championships later this year."

Himachal Pradesh's Vaibhav (53.48m) and Haryana's Ritik (52.88m) won silver and bronze respectively behind Choudhary.

In the marquee men's javelin throw event's qualification round, Karnataka's Shashank Patil topped the charts with a throw of 72.48m. Army's Nitesh Yadav (72.34m) and Sunny Sheoran (71.43m) finished second and third.

In the U-18 discus throw, Reliance Foundation's Usmanali Khan won gold with a best throw of 55.11m.

Speaking post his gold, Usmanali said, "I'm seeing a lot of improvement in my performance since becoming a part of Reliance Foundation. The training facilities and infrastructure are really world-class here. It is one of the best places in India to train at and I have been working a lot on my technique."

Sonu (Delhi) and Yashraj Jain (Madhya Pradesh) won silver and bronze in the category by hurling the discus to a distance of 52.15m and 51.44m, respectively.

In the first senior competition of the day, Haryana's Seema won Gold in the women's discus throw event with an impressive effort of 56.39m, with Neetika Verma and Priya winning silver (50.23m) and bronze (48.88m).

The U20 women's discus throw event was won by Rajasthan's Nikita Kumari 46.78m. In the men's U18 shot put, Maharashtra's Aryan Satpute won Gold with 18.06m, with Uttar Pradesh's Akhand Partap Singh (18.06m) and Punjab's Harpartap Singh (18.04m). (ANI)