NEW DELHI: A star was born at the National Inter-State Championships on Wednesday when 18-year-old hammer thrower from Uttar Pradesh Anushka Yadav produced a stunning performance to rewrite Indian athletics history and become the country’s youngest national record holder.Competing at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, the teenager from Baleni village in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district broke the women’s hammer throw national record with a mammoth effort of 67.02m, beating the previous mark of 65.25m set by Sarita Singh in 2017.What made the feat even more amazing was that Anushka broke the national record twice during the competition. After opening with a throw of 62.07m, she surpassed the long-standing mark with a second-round effort of 65.64m before clearing a sensational 67.02m in her final attempt.This performance was a big jump from her previous official personal best of 62.89m, which she set while winning gold at the National Games last year. Her opening throw alone was enough to defeat the Athletics Federation of India Asian games qualification standard 61.72m.
From farm fields to national record books: Anushka’s remarkable journey
Anushka’s journey to the National Book of Records is as inspiring as her achievement. Hailing from a family of farmers, she initially wanted to become a sprinter before her father, former hammer thrower Sushil Yadav, steered her towards throwing.“My father makes me play hammer. I have three personal coaches, including my father and Chirag Yadav. I trained at my local ground,” Anushka said after her record-breaking effort.The teenager revealed that she first picked up a hammer at the age of 12, and now she has much bigger ambitions.“I want to throw more than 70 meters and win gold at the Asian Games,” she said.Her success becomes even more impressive given that she suffered a torn ligament just a few months ago.“It happened in March when I tried to fix some malfunction on our tractor on our piece of land at home. My brother and father were there at the time. Fortunately, I recovered quickly,” she said.
A record-breaking day lights up the state interstate championships
While Anushka grabbed the limelight, the opening day also witnessed another national record as Madhya Pradesh’s Dev Meena cleared 5.46m in the men’s pole vault, bettering the previous mark of 5.45m.National record holder Jyothi Yarraji also made an emotional comeback after a year off due to injuries, clocking 12.99 seconds to win the women’s 100m hurdles.“I was expecting a better timing, but I felt so good. It was on this day last year that I got injured. The same day I got back on track and showed up on my own. It means a lot to me,” Yarraji said.
