Colombo, Nov 30: It was a gold rush for India as they bagged ten of the 13 Gold medals at stake on the opening day of the inaugural SAF junior athletics championship here today.

Krishna Kumar Rane, the last minute entry, gave a carrer best performance in long jump event as he leapt to a distance of 7.45m.

In 800m event, Prakash Verma was a clear winner with clean lead as he clocked 1:52.99s. In 400m hurdle, Jithin Paul clocked 52.91s to win gold.

Dinesh Kumar (54.0m) and Akash Antil(51.58m) claimed gold and silver respectively in discus while Pakistan's Mohd.

Arsalan (48.28m) took the bronze.

India's A Jessy clocked 25.32s to win women's 200m race.

Her compatriot Srabani Nanda timed 25.49 for a bronze while Sri Lanka's J Jayasinghe was second in 25.39s.

Savita Dhankar(4:35.49s) and Bindhu SR (4:35.51s) finished first and second respectively in women's 1500m followed by Sri Lanka's WKLA Nimali (4:46.32s).

In women's shot put, the gold and silver were claimed by India's Manpreet Kaur (13.76m) and Neelam Jakhar (12.95m) respectively while Sri Lanka's D Maduurapperuma was third (12.42).

India has entered two athletes in all the events where junior athletes from all SAF countries are competing.

Other Results: Men: 200m: S Ambepitiya (SL) 21.91s; Amir Murad (Pak)22.07s; R Hasaranga (SL) 22.50s 800m: Prakash Verma (Ind) 1:52.99s; A Abeysinghe (SL) 1:53.43s; Aloka (SL) 1:54.45s 5000m: Sandip Kumar (Ind) 14:35.85s; H Sudesh Prasanna (SL) 15:44.47s; Vinit Malik (Ind) 16:03.74s Long Jump: K Rane (Ind) 7.45m; S Nadeshan (SL) 7.36m; KS Rathnayake (SL) 7.08m 400m hurdle: Jithin Paul (Ind) 52.91s; Shejil Verghjeese (Ind) 53.62s; PSA Rankoth (SL) 54.36s.

UNI