The 15th edition of the multi-event Central President Running Shield kicked off at the Kathmandu-based Dasharath Stadium on Wednesday with two records bettered.

Junior athletes are competing for 26 gold medals across six different sports—athletics, volleyball, kabaddi, karate, taekwondo and wushu—for three days in the tournament.

With 49 boys and 49 girls from each province, 686 players are competing in the biggest junior-level sports event in the country. The players represent their province after progressing through municipal and district-level selections throughout the country.

The two records that were bettered on the first day were in athletics.

Bagmati Province’s Prabin Rana Magar and Sudurpaschim’s Sangita BK bettered the records in the boys’ 100-m race and girls’ 400-m race, respectively, to clinch a gold in the respective events. Koshi’s Sujan Mandal and Lumbini’s Subham Bam finished second and third, respectively.

Magar completed the run in 10.76 seconds and bettered the record set by Aashish Chaudhary (10.90 seconds) in 2013.

Similarly, BK crossed the finish line in 1 minute and 19 seconds to grab the gold. The previous record in the girls’ 400m race was set by Aruna Rijal (1 minute and 30 seconds) in 2019. Bagmati’s Anisha Tharu and Karnali’s Krishna Rana were second and third in the event on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Magar and BK also received an additional cash prize of Rs10,000 alongside the gold medal for setting a new record.

The first day of the tournament also saw events in girls’ 100-m and boys’ 400-m races alongside high-jump and shot put.