National Open 400m Championships 2021: Ayush Dabas wins gold medal
Ayush Dabas has been impressive this year having won the under-23 national title and a bronze medal at the National Open last month.
After winning bronze at the National Open athletics meet last month, Haryana runner Ayush Dabas clinched the gold medal in the men’s sprint at National Open 400m Championships 2021 in Delhi on Tuesday.
A national under-23 champion, Ayush Dabas clocked 46.86 seconds at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to take the top position. This was the 22-year-old’s second straight sub-47 second run. He ran his personal best of 46.58 seconds at the U-23 meet.
Meanwhile, the silver medal went to Surendar Selvamani of Tamil Nadu, who clocked 47.76 seconds while Punjab’s Harpreet Singh Gill took bronze with a time of 48.13 seconds.
Two-time Olympian Muhammed Anas, who holds the national record of 45.32 seconds. He did not compete at the event.
In the women’s field, Vandana Sharma was crowned the winner of the 400m sprint. The Uttar Pradesh athlete finished the race in 55.01 seconds.
Kerala’s Smruthimol Rajendran (55.75s) and Khamosh Bai Gurjar (1:04:57s) of Rajasthan were second and third, respectively. Only three athletes completed the race as two did not finish while one runner was disqualified.
Kunja Rajitha and Rupal, who were a part of the Indian 4x400m relay team at the World Athletics Under-20 Championship in August, won the top honours in their respective age categories.
The 16-year-old Rupal was the fastest female across all age groups, with a time of 53.73 seconds.