LIMA (Peru) – 26 August 2024:
Qatari pole vaulter Seifeldin Heneida Abdelsalam and ace Chinese javelin thrower Yan Ziyi are the two TOP names among the Asian athletes competing in the World U20 Athletics Championships, which commences in the Peruvian capital tomorrow (27 Aug).
Seifeldin, won two Asian junior titles back-to-back in 2023 (Yecheon) and 2024 (Dubai). The Qatari vaulter scaled a new championship record of 5.51m to win in Dubai. Germany’s Hendrik Muller had a season-best 5.55m indoors, the same as Seifeldin, and is expected to throw a keen contest for the podium.
Switzerland’s Valentin Ismand, who has a PB of 5.61m from 2023 and registered 5.50m this season, will keep the contest interesting. Swedish Linus Jonsson and American Bryce Barkdull may pull a surprise or two.
China’s Yan Ziyi set a World U20 record of 64.28m in the women’s javelin throw earlier this year. She didn’t compete in Dubai. However, Chu Pin-Hsun from Chinese Taipei, who took the title in Dubai, will join the contests in Lima.
Germany’s national U23 champion Mirja Lukas (58.70m) and Rebecca Nelimarkka from Finland, the silver medalist in last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival and logged a personal best 56.70m with the senior implement this season, are the two other athletes to watch in this event in Lima.
India fields the largest team in Lima:
India’s junior world championship team in Lima includes 43 athletes, the largest number among the Asian teams.
“We wanted to provide our junior athletes the required platform on the global stage. With the World U18 championships being dissolved, the U20 championships remaining as the only major opportunity available to our junior athletes to showcase their talent and the Athletics Federation of India has already realised its importance after the stupendous display of our javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and quarter-miler Hima Das as they crowned World U20 Champions not long ago” said Nagapuri Ramesh, the Chief National Coach for juniors.
Neeraj Chopra won Gold in the 2016 World U20 championships at Bydgoszcz with a magnificent throw of 86.48m, which remains a World U20 Record to date. Chopra went on to become a World and Olympic champion thereafter. Similary, Hima Das won the women’s 400m title in 2018 and she anchored the national relay squad to gold in the Asian Games later that year.
Japan (40) and China (35) are fielding the other big contingents from the Asia.
25 reigning Asian U20 Champions entered in Lima:
Twenty-five athletes who won the Asian U20 championships earlier this year in Dubai (out of 40 individual events) will try their luck on the bigger stage in Lima. In four other events, China fielded its silver medalists while India entered its bronze medalist in hammer throw instead of their top finishers in Dubai.
The fastest athletes in Dubai, Keli Zang and Yujie Chan from China, are among the notable Asian U20 champions making their national squad to the Peruvian capital.
In relay races, four out of five gold-winning teams from Dubai entered the fray in the World U20 championships. Hong Kong, China—which won women’s 4x100m relay gold in Dubai—was the only missing team.
China’s Alexier Wumaier clocked a brilliant 45.53 secs to win the 400m in Dubai, and Qatari hurdler Oumar Doudai O Abakar, who posted an excellent 13.24 secs meet mark there, is among the top-rated athletes from Asia to watch in Lima.
Surprisingly, the Asian U20 champions in distance races were left out by their respective teams, mainly because the African teams entered very high-standard runners in those events. Japan, the noted nation for distance running in Asia, which entered some alternative athletes in these events, may pluck a medal or two.
In Lima, 1720 athletes from 134 nations and territories will participate in five days of competitions commencing on August 27. This includes 216 athletes from 21 member federations of Asian Athletics.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
