Animesh Kujur of Odisha speeding to victory in the men’s 200m gold.
| Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin
Shaili Singh with her mentor Anju Bobby George after bettering the latter’s meet mark in the women’s long jump.
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT
Animesh Kujur could not contain himself, leaving out a loud roar of joy and relief at the Maharaja’s Stadium here on Thursday.
The 21-year-old from Odisha had just broken the three-year-old 200m National record, clocking an impressive 20.40s, while beating record-holder Amlan Borgohain to the gold.
It was a fantastic evening at the 28th National Federation athletics championships for minutes earlier Tamil Nadu triple jumper Praveen Chithravel had equalled his own National record (17.37m) and also qualified for this September’s Tokyo Worlds.
And Asian silver medallist long jumper Shaili Singh proved that she is getting back to her best with a 6.64m effort that saw her break her mentor Anju Bobby George’s 23-year-old meet record while beating Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan (6.46m).
“After the fantastic 100m on Monday, I knew something was going to happen in the 200m today,” said Animesh.
Long time coming
“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve got to thank the guys who pushed him, Mani, Raghul and Amlan,” said Martin Owens who coaches Animesh at the Odisha Reliance Centre.
Praveen had crossed 17m in Bengaluru last month and prior to the final here he had written ‘17.20m for my coach Yoandris’ behind his chest number and proudly showed it to the world after his big jump.
“I wanted to help my sore heel recover, so I stopped after three rounds,” said Praveen. Asian champion Abdulla Aboobacker took the silver (16.99m).
Robert Bobby George had expected Shaili to jump around 6.75m today and though she could not go that far, the 21-year-old produced her best jump in nearly two years.
Meanwhile, Samardeep Gill (19.34m) shocked Asian Games shot put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor (18.77) while another Asiad winner Annu Rani was not at her best but won the women’s javelin title comfortably.
The results (winners only): 200m: Animesh Kujur (Odi) 20.40s (NR, Old: 20.52, Amlan Borgohain, 2022); 800m: Anu Kumar (Utk) 1:47.78s; 5,000m: Abhishek Pal (Rly) 13:40.59s.
Triple jump: Praveen Chithravel (JSW) 17.37m (equalled own National record, old meet record 16.99m, Eldhose Paul, 2022); shot put: Samardeep Singh Gill (MP) 19.34m; decathlon: Tejaswin Shankar (Del) 7603 points (MR, Old: 7502, Jora Singh, 2006).
Women: 200m: Nithya Gandhe (Tel) 23.68s; 800m: Twinkle Chaudhary (Reliance) 2:00.71 (MR, Old: 2:01.79, K.M. Chanda, 2023); 5,000m: Sanjivani Jadhav (Mah) 15:43.42s.
Javelin: Anu Rani (UP) 56.66m; high jump: Pooja (Har) 1.84m; long jump: Shaili Singh (UP) 6.64m (MR, Old: 6.59, Anju Bobby George, 2002); hammer throw: Harshita Sehrawat (Reliance) 61.65m.
Published – April 24, 2025 09:29 pm IST
