Nov 24, Visakhapatnam: The 15th edition of the National Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) started with a colourful inaugural ceremony here at the Golden Jubilee Port Trust Ground in Vishakhapatnam (AP) on Friday, 24 November 2017.
On day-1 of the competition, Roushan Kumar of Jamui(Bihar) set a new meet record in the boys U14 long jump category with a jump of 6.67m displacing the previous record of Kusal Singh (6.59m) from Agra(UP) set in 2016. Avinash Kumar of Patna(Bihar) took the silver with 6.53m and bronze went to Abhishek Kumar of (Sheikhpura) for his jump of 6.50m.
In the final of girls U16 Javelin Throw, Akanksha Patel of Lakhisarai (Bihar) recorded a 34.89m throw to clinch the gold followed by Neha of CharkhiDadri(Haryana) with 34.60m effort for the silver medal. The last medal place was taken by L.Sharini of Dharmapuri (Tamilnadu) with a distance of 33.26m.
Meanwhile, BhavikaChandru of Budda (Karnataka) leaped to the gold in the girls U14 long jump with a distance of 5.13m .G. Lakshmi from Vizianagaram(Andhra Pradesh) secured the silver with a 5.09m jump followed by Nehaparvin of North Parvanas (West Bengal) who settled with a bronze medal with a 5.07m leap.
There was an overwhelming participation in the 100m event for U16 boys and girls where 41 heats were conducted with around 200 boys taking part in the boys category and 20 heats were conducted for girls to choose the qualifiers among 120 girls.
Earlier in the morning, the NIDJAM 2017 kicked-off with a colourful ceremony in the presence of Shri. KolluRavindra, Minister of Youth and Sports, Government of Andhra Pradesh. This year, more than 4000 athletes including boys and girls from around 400 districts of 29 states of the country are taking part in the meet, an initiative of Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for promoting athletics at the grass root level.
