Kenya, August 23: India gets its third medal at the World Athletics U20 Championship, after talented Indian long jumper Shaili Singh won a silver medal in the women's long jump with a wind-assisted clearance of 6.59m.
Shaili missed out scripting history and a gold medal by a mere one centimeter but she established herself as an upcoming star. Shaili began brightly with a 6.34m and repeated the same, before her third attempt. In her third jump, a 17-year-old athlete leaped to her personal best of 6.59 meters to bag a silver medal.
However, Sweden's reigning European junior champion Maja Askag managed 6.60m on her fourth attempt and took the gold medal as Shaili could not pass the 6.60m in her next two attempts.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur took to social media and congratulated the ace athlete for her feat. He said, "Shaili Singh has won the Silver! World Athletics U20 Championships, Nairobi A personal best, she registered a jump of 6.59m in the long jump event final. • Shaili trains under Robert Bobby, the husband of Indian veteran Anju Bobby George, at the SAI NCE, Bangalore."
Shaili's silver was also India's 3rd medal at the U20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi. It should be noted that India ended their campaign with a best-ever medal haul of 2 silver and one bronze.
Earlier in the competition, India's Amit Khatri won silver in men's 10km race walk. Khatri clocked 42:17.94s to finish behind the host country's Heristone Wanyoni, who won the gold with a timing of 42:10.84 seconds. India also won a bronze in the 4x400m mixed relay.
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