National Inter-State Athletics Championships: Annu Rani, Animesh Kujur move closer to Tokyo World Championships
Sprinter Animesh Kujur and javelin thrower Annu Rani cruised to gold medals at the 64th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai on Saturday, strengthening their bid to qualify for next month’s World Championships in Tokyo through the World Rankings quota.
Annu, the National Record holder, came up with the winning throw of 61.05m in the first round itself. This was the third straight competition where she crossed the 61-metre mark after International Wiesław Maniak Memorial (62.59m) in Poland and Indian Open (62.01m) in Bhubaneswar. The showpiece event in Tokyo has 36 slots in women’s javelin throw and Annu is currently placed 28th in the ‘Road to Tokyo’ rankings.
“I have, more or less, qualified through world rankings. I had no plans of competing here because I had a health issue and was on medication. But my coaches, both Sergey Makarov and Parveer Singh, told me to participate in as many competitions as possible as it will help me rectify the faults in my execution. I have crossed 61m at every competition this month and have chances of doing well at Worlds,” said the 32-year-old Annu after the victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
For Kujur, fortunately, the conditions for the 200m final were ideal, unlike the 4x100m men’s relay from a day before where heavy downpour had made the track slippery. The 22-year-old sprinter from Odisha crossed the finish line in 20.63s, bettering his own meet record of 20.65s from last year.
For Kujur, fortunately, the conditions for the 200m final were ideal, unlike the 4x100m men’s relay from a day before where heavy downpour had made the track slippery.
| Photo Credit:
RAGU R/The Hindu
For Kujur, fortunately, the conditions for the 200m final were ideal, unlike the 4x100m men’s relay from a day before where heavy downpour had made the track slippery.
| Photo Credit:
RAGU R/The Hindu
Kujur, who set a new National Record of 20.32s at the Asian Championships, lies 42nd in the rankings with 48 slots available for Tokyo. World Athletics will release the final list of qualified athletes on Wednesday but Martin Owens, his coach, was pleased about his ward’s performance and confident of making it to Worlds.
“It’s been a very long season but now, I think we’ve consolidated our place for the World Championships, which is a fantastic achievement,” said Owens.
Tamil Nadu’s S. Dhanalakshmi grabbed her third gold medal as she clocked 23.53s in the 200m final. She had won the 100m and 4x100m women’s relay previously.
Samardeep Gill recorded a new personal best of 19.82m to beat two-time Olympian and National Record holder Tajinderpal Toor (19.41m) for the men’s shot put gold.
A day after her win in 100m hurdles, Moumita Mondal also clinched the long jump title with a 6.27m effort, pipping Shaili Singh (6.18m), who finished second.
Ruchit Mori became only the eighth Indian man ever to go sub-50 seconds in 400m hurdles as the 23-year-old athlete from Gujarat clocked 49.76s to win the gold medal. He narrowly missed out on breaking Yashas Palaksha’s Meet Record of 49.37s.
As the event concludes on Sunday, all eyes will be on long jumper Murali Sreeshankar who will look to secure a spot for Tokyo either through the World Rankings or by achieving the entry standard of 8.27m.
RESULTS
Men
200m: Gold – Odisha’s Animesh Kujur (20.63s), Silver – Tamil Nadu’s Ragul Kumar G (20.92s), Bronze – Assam’s Amlan Borgohain (21.19s).
800m: Gold – Haryana’s Krishan Kumar (1:48.41s), Silver – Karnataka’s Tushar Bhekane (1:48.82s), Bronze – Maharashtra’s Prakash Gadade (1:48.86s).
400m Hurdles: Gold – Gujarat’s Ruchit Mori (49.76s), Silver – West Bengal’s Subhas Das (50.61s), Bronze – Punjab’s Hardeep (51.03s).
High Jump: Gold – Maharashtra’s Sarvesh Kushare (2.24m), Silver – Tamil Nadu’s Aadarsh Ram (2.21m), Bronze – Odisha’s Swadhin Kumar Majhi (2.18m).
Shot Put: Gold – Madhya Pradesh’s Samardeep Gill (19.82m), Silver – Punjab’s Tajinderpal Toor (19.41m), Bronze – Uttarakhand’s Aniket (18.09m).
Women
200m: Gold – Tamil Nadu’s S. Dhanalakshmi (23.53s), Silver – UP’s Shivani Saini (24.04s), Bronze – Gujarat’s Sakshi Chavan (24.05s).
800m: Gold – Haryana’s Pooja (2:02.27s), Silver – Manipur’s Huidrom Devi (2:04.44s), Bronze – Chhattisgarh’s Thota Sankeertana (2:04.56s).
400m Hurdles: Gold – Punjab’s Ramandeep Kaur (58.90s), Silver – Tamil Nadu’s Olimba Steffi (59.21s), Bronze – Karnataka’s Deekshita Gowda (1:00.09s).
Javelin Throw: Gold – UP’s Annu Rani (61.05m), Silver – Haryana’s Deepika (57.19m), Bronze – Karnataka’s Karishma Sanil (51.30m).
Long Jump: Gold – West Bengal’s Moumita Mondal (6.27m), Silver – UP’s Shaili Singh (6.18m), Bronze – Tamil Nadu’s Sherin A (6.16m).
Discus Throw: Gold – Haryana’s Seema (57.18m), Silver – Delhi’s Bhavana Yadav (51.61m), Bronze – Haryana’s Priya (48.96m).
Published on Aug 23, 2025