New Delhi, 07 August (H.S.): India's Mohammad Ashfaq delivered a sensational performance on the second day of the World U20 Athletics Championships 2026 on Thursday, setting a new national U20 record in the men's 400 metres to secure a place in the final. Basant also kept India's medal hopes alive by qualifying for the men's high jump final.

The 19-year-old Ashfaq finished second in Heat 5 with a time of 45.81 seconds to advance to the semifinals. In the process, he broke his own U20 national record of 46.05 seconds, which he had set at the U20 Federation Cup in Bengaluru in April.

Ashfaq then clocked 46.00 seconds to finish third in the third semifinal heat, booking his place in the final. He finished behind the United States' Quincy Wilson (45.02 seconds) and South Africa's Kiern Romin (45.87 seconds). Meanwhile, India's Piyush Raj finished fifth in Heat 6 with a time of 47.78 seconds and failed to qualify for the final.

In the men's high jump, Basant cleared 2.14 metres to finish fifth in Group A and qualify for the final. However, K. Ambrish was eliminated after managing a best jump of 2.05 metres in Group B. None of the athletes in either group cleared the automatic qualification mark of 2.21 metres.

In the women's discus throw final, Amanat Kamboj recorded a personal best of 53.24 metres to finish sixth. China's Su Yixin won the gold medal with an U20 world-leading throw of 61.06 metres.

India's Anshu narrowly missed qualification for the women's shot put final. She produced a best throw of 15.24 metres, finishing ninth in Group A and 14th overall, missing the qualification cut-off by just 21 centimetres.

In the women's 400m hurdles, Tanu Chaudhary finished fifth in her heat with a time of 1:00.03 minutes and failed to progress to the final. In the men's 400m hurdles, Amit Kumar finished last in his heat after clocking 54.01 seconds.

India's challenge in the men's triple jump qualification also came to an end, with Dhanush Raj (14.71m) and P. Royshan (15.20m) both failing to qualify for the final.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar