At the fifth Asian Under-18 Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Friday, Rezoana Mallick Heena won the girls’ 400m gold, shattering the eight-year-old meet record held by Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasser, a former World champion.
The 16-year-old from Nadia, West Bengal, who trains in Bengaluru under Arjun Ajay, ran the quartermile in 52.98 seconds (Salwa’s previous meet record was 53.02 seconds), making her the fastest under-18 quartermiler in the world this year and the quickest Indian woman. Rezoana’s impressive sprint also beat Jisna Mathew’s 53.14-second under-18 national record, set in 2015 by the former Asian silver medalist.
The girl’s 100m silver medalist from Tamil Nadu, AbinayaRajarajan, ran a personal best 11.82 seconds in the meantime. Lalya Kamal of Bahrain won the gold in 11.77 seconds.
India won bronze in the boys’ division thanks to sprint hurdler Sandeep Vinodkumar Gond (13.80s) and 10,000-meter racewalker Babendra Singh (43.16.95s).