His father, grandfather and uncles were all footballers. S. Lokesh began as a footballer too but his dad advised him to take up an individual event so that he would not have to rely on others to come up. So Lokesh took up long jump and the 100m eight years ago.
On Friday, the 17-year old from Bengaluru came up with a personal best of 7.43m while winning the u-18 boys’ long jump gold in the 33rd Coromandel National junior athletics championships at Mangalagiri, near here.
Lokesh has set himself a target of 7.55m that will take him to Finland for next year’s under-20 Worlds. He grabbed the lead with his second jump of 7.14m, and produced his best in the fourth.
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Two national records and two meet marks fell on the second day. Haryana’s Dipender Dabas bettered his own u-18 boys’ shot put national record, pushing it to 20.99m, while Maharashtra’s Vikas Yadav accounted for the other mark with his 74.73m in the u-16 boys’ javelin throw.
But sprint hurdler Sapna Kumari could be the one celebrating the most. The 18-year old from Jharkhand, who broke Tamil Nadu’s G. Gayatri’s eight-year-old meet record, also qualified for the under-20 Worlds with her time of 14.09s (entry standard 14.10s). “But let me check whether this meet can be counted towards qualification purposes,” said C.K. Valson, the Athletics Federation of India secretary.
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Boys: Under-20: 110m hurdles: Sachin Babu (Ker) 14.08s.
Under-18: 110m hurdles: Punga Soren (Odi) 14.00s; Long jump: S. Lokesh (Kar) 7.43m; Shot put: Dipender Dabas (Har) 20.99m, NR, OR 20.63; Hammer: Damneet Singh (AFI-Punjab) 74.89m; 10,000m walk: Sanjay Kumar (Har) 43:05.14s.
Under-16: 100m hurdles: Aditya Prakash (Jha) 13.37s; Javelin: Vikas Yadav (Mah) 74.73m, NR, OR 72.05; Hammer: Vipin Kumar (UP) 59.71m.
Under-14: 600m: Rabi Khora (Odi) 1:25.75.
Girls: Under-20: 100m hurdles: Sapna Kumari (Jharkhand) 14.09s; Pole vault: Arsha Babu (Ker) 3.30m; Javelin: Monika (Har) 46.06m; 10,000 walk: Bandana Patel (UP) 52:02.55.
Under-18: 100m hurdles: Aparna Roy (Ker) 14.01s, MR, OR 14.02. Javelin: 1. N. Hemamalini (TN) 42.58m.
Under-16: 100m hurdles: 1. Thabitha (TN) 14.56s.
Under-14: 600m: Gauthami (Kar) 1:41.13.