BY : Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
A large number of young “champions” from the last editions of the Asian Youth (U18) championships held at Al-Kuwait (2022) and Tashkent (2023) looking forward to igniting fireworks in the Korean city of Yucheon in the upcoming Asian U20 championships commencing June 4.
The four-day meet (June 4 to 7) to witness as many as 431 athletes representing 27 member federations of the Asian Athletics Association thronging the Yecheon Stadium will try their might to bring laurels for their respective teams.
The start-lists released by the organisers revealed as many as 18 athletes who won gold medals in the last edition of the U18 Asian championships in Al-Kuwait entered in Yecheon. This apart, nine of the newly crowned champions from the recently concluded Asian youth championships in Tashkent also decided to log horns with their compatriots in the Korean city.
Boonson, Davronova heads the list
Thailand’s wonder-boy Puripol Boonson, who reminded his country’s domination in sprint races in the continent in the 1970s and 80s, will be the top gun to watch for his exploits in Yecheon. Boonson was a double gold medalist in Al-Kuwait, taking on both 100 and 200m titles. Incidentally, he held the best legally recognized performance in 100m (10.09 secs) for the U18 category in the semi-finals of last year’s World U20 championships, before narrowly missing a medal in Cali, Colombia.
Sharifa Davronova from Uzbekistan got a double by winning Long and Triple jump golds in Al-Kuwait. In Cali, she was crowned as a World U20 Champion in Triple Jump with a mammoth 14.04m. While Davronova retained the top spot in the triple jump, she settled with silver in the long jump in Tashkent. Incidentally, she also added the Asian Indoor title to her collection earlier this year in Astana.
Chiang Jing-Yuan from Chinese Taipei, who won shot put and discus throw golds in the 2022 Asian youth meet, is another notable contender for the top positions this time. Iranian hammer thrower Mahdi Haft Cheshmeh, who won two back-to-back titles in the U18 Asian championships of 2022 and 2023, will be a star athlete to watch in his favourite event.
Japan and India return with big teams
Team Japan did not field any athletes in the last two editions of the Asian U18 championships. However, they are returning with some big names to Yecheon for the U20 championships. Leading among them is the World Junior silver medalist race walker Oyama Ai.
Indian quarter-miler Rezoana Mallick Henna, winner of the 400m in Tashkent, will be the star attraction once again. Both Japan and India are depending on their women’s power to garner more medals this time.
Qatar’s pole vaulter Seifeldin Abdesalem and hurdler Mahamat Abakar Abdrahman, and Kazakh heptathlete Alina Chistyakova are some other important athletes coming to Yecheon.
Keen contests are expected between Nodir Morboev (Uzbekistan) and Ivan Sening (Kazakhstan) in Decathlon, as well as Nazami Fateh (Iran) and Anastasiya Koloda (Kazakhstan) in women’s 400m hurdles, they were incidentally youth champions in 2022 or 2023 in their respective events.
From the hosts’ side, high jumper Choi Jin-Woo and woman hammer thrower Kim Tae-Hui, both winners in Al-Kuwait are part of the 65-strong Team Korea. Nwamadi Joel-Jin, who finished second behind Puripol Boonson in 100m last year, besides women throwers Park So-Jin (shot put) and Im Cha-Yeon (discus throw) are some of the other top names who appeared in the Korean entries.
With an Asian city eager to host the World U20 championships next year, the Yecheon meet will be expected to provide the right platform for those aspirants looking to light the flame on the global arena next.
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