PRAYAGRAJ, June 24 -- Young discus thrower Ujjwal Choudhary hated school. After completing Class 12, he chose to pursue athletics, which gave his life a new direction. While Ujjwal sees a great future for himself in the sport, he is cautious enough to take one challenge at a time. In his mind, his goal is clear-a podium finish at the 2026 Asian Games. On Monday, he made his intentions very clear, and set a new national record on Day 2 of the 23rd National Junior U20 Federation Athletics Championship underway here. Choudhary, who hails from Shyamli in Uttar Pradesh, hurled the iron plate 59.51 metre far in his sixth attempt and beat the previous record of 59.34m, which was set last year by U Chaudhary of Navi Mumbai. "I never wanted to study. So I always looked for a way out of it. That's why I picked sports. Today I am happy that i took the right decision," said Ujjwal on Monday. "I could have done much better as my target was 62-plus metre and I was confident of setting a new national record here," said Ujjwal, who was here to represent JSW. "I represented Uttar Pradesh in two state meets and even finished at top in one of the meets. A year ago, I was picked by JSW," he added. "My perspective of the game has changed since I joined JSW training centre. My village doesn't have such a facility. Now, my focus is a podium finish at the 2026 Asian Games." "I am also looking forward to a podium finish at this year's national championships." Ujjwal wasn't the only one to hog the limelight on Monday. Odisha's Aastik Pradhan set up a new meet record in 400m, clocking 46.58 seconds. Tamil Nadu's Yuvraj clocked 13.69 seconds to set up a new national record in the 110m hurdles. Lanky jumper Shahnawaj Khan made hosts Uttar Pradesh proud, setting a new meet record in long jump with a jump of 7.90 metre. Another local, Nitin Gupta, set up new national record in 1000m race walk by clocking 39:46.78 seconds. In the women's category, Bengaluru's Vanshika set the pole vault event on fire, establishing a new national record with a jump of 3.90 metre; Meerut's Reet Rathore cleared 1.81m in high jump to set a new meet record. "Reet is very talented and remains focussed," her coach Gaurav Tyagi said after the event. "Reet is my third trainee to clear the 1.80 metre mark. I am sure that this is only the beginning for her," said Tyagi. Men's 1500m: Vivek Pal (Jharkhand) 3:51.83 sec, Shubham Yadav (UP) 3:51.87 sec; Abhinav Singh (UP) 3:52.01 sec; Discus throw: Ujjwal Chaudhary (JSW) 59.51m (NNR), Nishchay (Har) 55.41m, Devansh Jaga (Reliance) 54.30m; 400m: Aastik Pradhan (Odisha) 46.58sec (NMR), Sanjay Nishant (Bengaluru) 46.95m, Manish Kumar (Jharkhand) 47.46m; 110m hurdles: Yuvraj (TN) 13.69 sec (NNR), Sandeep Vinod Kumar (Reliance) 13.70 sec, Kiran (Kerala) 13.70 sec; Long jump: Shahnawaz Khan (UP) 7.90m (NMR), Jiten (TN) 7.83m, Tarun Vikas (Trivandrum) 7.42m; Hammer throw; Harshit Kumar (UP) 60.69m, Honey (Har) 58.94m, Narpat Singh (Raj) 58.32m; 10000m race walk: Nitin Gupta (UP) 39:46.78 sec (NNR), Himanshu Kumar (Uttarakhand) 42:5.92 sec, Himanshu Pawar (Uttarakhand) 42:21.33 sec; Decathlon: Jinay (Trivandrum) 6451 points, Mayank Kumar (Har) 6445 points, Rahul Jakhar (Guj) 6327 points. Women's 1500m: Pratiksha Yadav (UP) 4:30.20 sec, Vaishnavi Rawal (Ktk) 4:33.92 sec, Muskan (Raj) 4:35.33 sec; Pole vault: Vanshika (Bangalore) 3.90m (NNR); Neeti Ka Anoop 3.70m, Chuki Birdha 3.50m; 400m: Isha Rajesh Yadav (Mah) 54.02 sec, Dishikha (TN) 54.99 sec, Tamanna (Kar) 55.31 sec; 100m hurdles: Erola Pranati (Telangana) 14.42 sec, Shiny Disha (TN) 14.44 sec, Nihali Narendra (Mah) 14.98 sec; Shot put: Donna Maria Dhoni (Ker) 14.83m, Antima Mishra (UP) 14.49m, Anshu (Har) 14.31m; 10000m race walk: Payal (Har) 50:39.88 sec, Tanya (Dli) 50:59.97 sec, Sarojini (UP) 51:34.63 sec; High jump: Reet Rathore (UP) 1.81m (NMR), Rimple Kaur (Pun) 1.63m, Amandeep Kaur (Bengaluru) 1.60m....