July 21, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10,1423

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KINGSTON, July 20: Jamaican teenage sprint sensation Usain Bolt was the star of show Friday when he became the youngest junior world champion ever to give the hosts their first gold of the championships.

The 15-year-old Bolt brought the 25,000 fans to their feet in Kingston stadium as he took the 200m title in 20.61sec ahead of Antigua’s Brendan Christian.

It is all a new experience for the lanky Jamaican, standing a massive 2 metres tall (6ft 6in), who burst onto the junior scene last year in Hungary, and dreams of playing football with his friends.

But Britain’s Vernicha James spoilt a Jamaican party when she claimed her country’s first gold medal of the championships in the 200m at the expense of home hope Anneisha McLaughlin.

American Lashinda Demus also dashed home hopes in the 400m hurdles with a stunning world junior record 54.70sec which eclipsed Jamacian duo Melanie Walker, 56.03, and Camille Robinson, 56.14, who were second and third.

Kenya claimed the double in the 800m with Janeth Jepkosgei taking the women’s title in 2:00.80, and Alex Kipchirchir, narrowling avoiding a tumble at the 300m mark to win the men’s title with a sprint finish in 1:46.59, just ahead of Qatar’s Salem Amer Al-badri, 1:46.63,

Sweden’s Carolina Kluft comfortably won the heptathlon with 3,850 points to her nearest rival Kazak Olga Alekseyeva’s 3,422.—AFP