FILE IMAGE: Race walker Nitin Gupta is among those who won gold medals for India at the Asian U20 Athletics Championships. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

India’s juniors left Hong Kong with a smaller medal count than last time, but with a sharper gold edge.

At the 22nd Asian U20 Athletics Championships, India finished with 19 medals: 10 gold, five silver and four bronze — across four days. By total medals, it was not India’s best-ever return at the competition. That benchmark remains the 2024 edition in Dubai, where India won 29 medals, including seven gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze.

But Hong Kong gave India a better gold conversion, with 10 titles compared to seven in Dubai and six at Yecheon in 2023, where India had also finished with 19 medals.

While the medals were fewer than last year, but the victories were spread across walks, jumps, throws, combined events, middle-distance, distance and relays.

The campaign began with Nipam winning bronze in the women’s 100m in 11.62s, giving India its first medal of the meet. The second day gave the campaign its first major lift. Nitin Gupta won the men’s 5000m race walk in 19:47.49, before Pooja Singh produced one of the defining performances of the championships. Her 1.93m clearance in the women’s high jump was both a senior national record and a meet record, taking down Sahana Kumari’s 1.92m national mark from 2012.

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Amanat Kamboj added women’s discus throw gold with 52.24m, while Rahul Jakhar won decathlon gold with a national U20 record of 7185 points. Upkar took silver in the same event, giving India a one-two finish. Sadhana Ravi won silver in the women’s triple jump, and Neeru Pathak added bronze in the women’s 400m.

India’s third day strengthened its recent field-event dominance. Shahnavaz Khan won the men’s long jump gold with 7.84m, with Jithin Arjunan Raman taking silver at 7.66m. Basant cleared 2.20m for men’s high jump gold, while Nikhil Chandrashekar won the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 9:25.44. Aarti added bronze in the women’s 200m with a personal best of 24.12s.

The final day gave India its relay finish. Muskan won the women’s 5000m in 16:53.08, Nishchay took silver in the men’s discus throw with a national U20 record of 60.10m, and Mogali Venkatram Reddy won the men’s 800m gold in 1:48.27.

The relay squads then closed the meet with more records. Kajal Hirabhai Vaja, Bhavana G, Aarti and Nipam won silver in the women’s 4x100m relay with a junior national record of 45.05s.

Bhumika Sanjay Nehate, Tahura Khatun, Sehnoor Bawa and Neeru Pathak won the women’s 4x400m relay gold in 3:38.07, breaking the meet record. The men’s 4x400m team of Piyush Raj, Sayed Sabeer, Ranjith Kumar S and Mohammed Ashfaq took bronze in 3:05.54, also a junior national record.

Though, Hong Kong was not India’s biggest Asian U20 haul by volume, its 10 gold medals and records across high jump, decathlon, discus and relays, made it a significant outing.

Published on May 31, 2026