Farmer’s daughter Anushka Yadav makes history in athletics, becoming India’s youngest national record holder

Anushka Yadav (Pic credit: AFI) NEW DELHI: A star was born at the National Interstate Championships on Wednesday as 18-year-old hammer thrower Anushka Yadav of Uttar Pradesh produced a stunning performance to rewrite Indian athletics history and become the country’s youngest national record holder.Competing at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, the teenager from Baleni village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh broke the national record in hammer throw with a mammoth effort of 67.02m, beating the previous mark of 65.25m set by Sarita Singh in 2017.What was more remarkable was that Anushka broke the national record twice during the competition. After opening with a throw of 62.07m, she broke the long-standing mark with a performance of 65.64m in the second round and threw a sensational 67.02m in her final attempt.The performance was a huge leap from her previous official personal best of 62.89m, which she set when she won gold at the National Games last year. Her opening throw was enough to equal the Indian Athletics Federation Asian Games qualifying standard of 61.72m.

From Farm Fields to National Books of Records: Anushka’s Remarkable Journey

Anushka’s journey to national records is as inspiring as her success. Hailing from a farming family, she originally wanted to become a sprinter before her father, former hammer thrower Sushil Yadav, brought her to the throwing event.“My father makes me play hammer. I have three personal trainers, including my father and Chirag Yadav. I practiced at my local ground,” Anushka said after her record-breaking effort.The teenager revealed that she first picked up a hammer at the age of 12 and now has much bigger ambitions.“I want to throw 70m plus and win gold at the Asian Games,” she said.Her achievement is even more impressive given that she suffered a broken ligament a few months ago.“It happened in March when I was trying to fix some problem in our tractor on our property at home. My brother and father were also there at the time. Fortunately, I recovered soon,” she said.

A record-breaking day illuminates the national interstate championships

While Anushka stole the limelight, the opening day also witnessed another national record as Madhya Pradesh’s Dev Meena cleared 5.46m in the men’s pole vault, bettering the previous mark of 5.45m.National record holder Jyothi Yarraji also made an emotional comeback after a one-year layoff due to injury as she won the women’s 100m hurdles title in 12.99 seconds.“I was expecting better timing but it felt so good. It was this exact day last year that I got injured. The same day I got back on track and showed myself. It means a lot to me,” said Yarraji.