Poorna Raorane smashes U-20 shot put record

Poorna, who represented India at the 2016 World Schools Championships in Turkey, bagged silver in the U-21 category during Khelo India Youth Games at Pune.

Poorna Raorane smashed a state record to bag gold in the girls U-20 shot put yesterday. She made an incredible throw of 14.06m at Kandivli, breaking the previous state record of 13.53m. Poorna more than doubled the distance recorded in the previous meet record of 6.37m.

Poorna, who represented India at the 2016 World Schools Championships in Turkey, bagged silver in the U-21 category during Khelo India Youth Games at Pune in January. Her father Subodh was a national-level boxer and elder sister is a national-level hurdler. Poorna, who trains at VPM Sports Club in Dahisar, feels having a sporting family helps one get mentally stronger. "Sometimes you are low on confidence if you are not doing well. But if you have sportspersons in the family, they can guide you during your ups and downs. My family has supported me a lot," Poorna told mid-day.

Rakesh Yadav (17:05.3sec in boys U-20 5000m), Heena Bhandari (5.24m in U-16 girls long jump), Pristal D'Souza (10.34m in girls U-14 shot put), Anurag Mali (30.57m in boys U-20 discus throw), Sharvari Parulekar (5.35m in girls U-18 long jump), Aleta Gonsalves (26.19m in girls U-18 hammer throw), Mohit Sandil (38.95m in boys U-16 hammer throw), Harshwardhan Pathak (22.6sec in boys U-18 200m), Saniya Sawant (26.5sec in girls U-16 200m) and Saroj Chavan (2427 points in girls U-16 pentathlon) set new meet records to clinch gold medals in their respective events.

Also read: Taxi driver's son wins gold in U-18 boys' discus throw

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