Neeraj Chopra hails Basant, Shahnavaz for historic Under-20 World C'ship medals

Basant and Shahnavaz Khan created history at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2026 in Eugene, Oregon, winning silver and bronze medals in the men's high jump and long jump, respectively, on Sunday, to take India's medal tally at the championships to three.

Posting on his X handle, Neeraj congratulated both athletes, writing, "A first of many for Basant Kumar Meghwal and Shahnawaz Khan, who won Silver and Bronze at the U-20 Worlds in the Men's High Jump and Long Jump, respectively. Kudos to them and the team behind the scenes working with such incredible talent!"

https://x.com/Neeraj_chopra1/status/2086730187467858295 Basant became the first Indian athlete to win a high jump medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships after clearing a personal-best-equalling 2.21m for silver on Saturday, as per Olympics.com.The 19-year-old had previously cleared 2.21m at the Junior Federation Cup in Bengaluru in April, before winning gold at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong in May with a clearance of 2.20m.

Basant began his campaign in Eugene with a first-attempt clearance of 2.06m and needed two attempts to clear 2.12m. He then cleared 2.17m on his first attempt before matching his personal best of 2.21m with his second jump. The Indian failed to clear 2.24m in three attempts but finished second on countback after three athletes cleared 2.21m.

Shahnavaz, meanwhile, became the first Indian man to win a long jump medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships after producing a best effort of 7.84m for bronze. Shaili Singh had earlier won silver in the women's long jump at the 2021 edition.

The Indian U20 Asian champion opened with a 7.67m effort before improving to 7.72m and then registering his medal-winning leap of 7.84m in his third attempt. He followed it with jumps of 7.52m, 7.83m and 5.37m. Shahnavaz came into the competition with a personal best of 8.30m, which he recorded at the Indian Championships in June.

The two medals took India's tally in Eugene to three, following Ashish Yadav's silver in the javelin throw on Friday. The three-medal haul equals India's best-ever tally at the World Athletics U20 Championships, matching the medal count from the 2021 and 2022 editions, which also yielded two silver medals and one bronze.

India have won two gold medals in the history of the championships. Neeraj Chopra claimed javelin throw gold in 2016, while Hima Das won the women's 400m title in 2018. In both editions, the gold medal was India's only podium finish. (ANI)