Nand Tripathi, Shardha claim golds for India in track and field

Pune, Oct 16 (UNI) Indian athletes today won a rich haul of medals from the track and field events with Nand Tripathi and Shardha Ghule winning gold medals in the javelin throw for men and triple jump for women, both breaking the games record in the process on the fifth day of the third edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games being held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports city, Balewadi here today.

India also won a rich haul of silver medals with Rohit Sharma taking the silver in the javelin and Gayathri also finishing second in the womens' triple jump, making it a one-two finish for the hosts in both these events.

India also won silver medal in the men's high jump event where Nikhil Chittarasu lost out to Wayne Voigt of South Africa and a bronze in the men's 200 meter sprint where Amiya Kumar Mallick finshied behind Sri Lankan Abeypitiyage Shehan Sadaruwan and Ray Williams of Australia.

Nand Tripathi started with a strong throw of 68.54 which would have been enough for him to claim the gold, but he went one better with a throw of 71.52 meters to break the games record and be sure of the gold.

In comparison to Nand Tripathi, Rohit Sharma started slowly with his first throw being a foul one. He, however, regained his composure with a throw of 67.60 metres in his second attempt which was enough for him to claim the silver. Luke Bissett of Australia claimed the bronze with a best throw of 65.64.

In the women's triple jump, Shraddha Ghule was in fine form as she steadily managed to jump longer with her best jump coming in her last effort which while breaking the games record also got her the gold medal with an effort of 13.11 meters. Her teammate Gayathri Govindharaj with a jump of 12.89 in her third attempt claimed the silver, leaving Ainsley Ackerman of Australia to claim the bronze with a best jump of 12.72.

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