India's campaign at the Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, got off to a strong start with four medals, including a gold on Thursday.
Aarti launched India's campaign as she took home the bronze in the morning session's girls' 5 km race walk competition.
In the afternoon session's 1500m track event, the Indian participants took home two medals: one gold and one silver.
India also placed third in the girls' long jump competition.
In the 1500-meter boys race, the Indian middle distance runners finished 1-2. Priyanshu, who outran fellow countryman Rahul in the last straight, won the day's honor.
In the 1500-meter event, Rahul and Priyanshu both prevailed. The Indian pair pushed hard as the race went on, leading to a string of 14 participants.
Rahul commented after taking home silver in the 1500m, “I tried hard to catch up to Priyanshu but he was better on the given day and won gold.”
Rahul finished second behind Priyanshu with a timing of 3 minutes and 59.43 seconds, earning him the gold.
Sejalbel Katara finished fourth in the girls' 1500-meter race after losing the battle for the bronze medal on the final straight.
Mubassina Mohammed increased India's medal total to four with a leap of 5.90 meters.
Chinese competitors dominated the girls' 5 km event. With a record of 22 minutes 32.61 seconds, Yang Xizhen won the gold medal, while fellow countryman Liu Biling took home the silver with a time of 22 minutes 56.30 seconds. Aarti finished in 24 minutes, 29.14 seconds, earning her the bronze medal.
Second Indian in the race, Khushbu Yadav, finished fourth out of a total of seven competitors.
Aarti said that her primary objective in Tashkent was to surpass her previous personal best of 24.19 seconds, but three official warnings and a 30-second time penalty for losing touch with the ground ruined her hopes of doing so.
After the third warning, an athlete will get a 30-second penalty in the 5km race walk. In Aarti's instance, the last 100 meters of the 5 km race resulted in a 30 second penalty.
In the girls' hammer throw, Neha Yadav came in fourth. Her personal best time was 52.91m.
Rezoana Mallick Heena of India finished first in the 400m heats as the fastest female runner.
Rezoana would likely win the Friday final with ease based on her preliminary round performance of 53.65 seconds.
Navpreet Singh and Sharan Meghavarnam made it to the 400-meter final for boys.
