National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships: Of high stakes and mixed fortunes

Numbers told the real story at the 64th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai, with every second, metre and ranking point shaping the fortunes of Indian athletes.

The domestic meet, held from August 20-24, was the last opportunity for Indian athletes to seal their spots at next month’s World Championships (September 13-21) in Tokyo. There were two ways to do it: first, by meeting the entry standard for the showpiece event — clocking a certain time on the track, throwing or jumping a particular distance, or clearing the bar at a set height. Or second, by taking the complicated route of the World Rankings — checking the current standings and then calculating the required performance to gain enough points and secure a quota.

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Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin throw), steeplechasers Parul Chaudhary and Avinash Sable (who is unlikely to compete at the Worlds due to injury), Gulveer Singh (men’s 5000m), and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel were the only automatic Indian qualifiers before the Inter-State meet. After five days in Chennai, there were no additions to this list.

Those whose rankings were already high enough to qualify for Tokyo played it safe and avoided peaking too soon, while those on the borderline were left to wait anxiously for the final list to be released by World Athletics on August 27.

Javelin throwers aplenty

For the second World Championships in a row, India looks set to have solid representation in a field of 36 male javelin throwers. Sachin Yadav (22nd in World Rankings) and Yash Vir Singh (30th) were likely to join Neeraj, who had already booked his spot via a wildcard reserved for the defending champion, even before the meet in Chennai.

However, Rohit Yadav threw his name into the hat as well, producing a personal best of 83.65m to pip Asian Championships silver medallist Sachin (83.20m) for the gold. Rohit, the 24-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, made his Worlds debut in 2022 before missing the last edition due to a ligament tear in his right elbow, which required surgery and kept him out of action for more than a year.

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Annu Rani, the woman National Record (NR) holder, strengthened her bid for a fifth consecutive appearance at the World Championships. Placed 28th in the rankings, the 32-year-old continued her consistent season as no one could challenge her throw of 61.05m for gold. This was her third straight competition in August crossing the 61m mark. “I didn’t want to peak today because then nothing would have been left for the World Championships,” said Annu.

Touch-and-go

For long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, the meet in Chennai ended with mixed feelings. The Asian Games silver medallist had been out of action since sustaining a tear in his patellar tendon in April last year, which forced him to miss the Paris Olympics. The 26-year-old from Kerala returned to competition this July and, commendably, competed in five events in six weeks to meet the criterion to enter the World Rankings. Not only that, he won all five while producing a best of 8.13m.

In Chennai, his target was to breach the automatic qualification mark of 8.27m, but he managed only 8.06m. According to the penultimate list, the athlete at the 36th and final qualification spot available through the world rankings had a score of 1195. Sreeshankar will enter the final list with 1196. Will he make it?

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“I was trying to chase something which was supposed to be done in the span of a year,” said a slightly disappointed Sreeshankar.

“If the World Championships qualification doesn’t happen, I definitely need a break to unwind and get ready for the next season, which comprises the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.”

Tejas Shirse, the National Record holder in the men’s 110m hurdles, too, wasn’t particularly pleased despite winning gold, as his 13.60s in wet, slippery conditions after a heavy downpour might not earn him enough ranking points to qualify for Tokyo.

Both Sreeshankar and Tejas could also have benefitted from tougher competition, as the second-placed finishers in their respective events jumped only 7.71m and clocked 14.03s.

Rising stars

Animesh Kujur  cemented his status as the Indian sprinter to watch, all but qualifying for the World Championships in the 200m. Kujur will be the first-ever Indian male sprinter to compete at the highest level. The 22-year-old from Odisha skipped the 100m individual event in Chennai and focussed entirely on the 200m, where his chances of qualifying were strongest. In the final, he bettered his own meet record, clocking 20.63s.

In Kujur’s absence, the men’s 100m event produced a new star in Tamil Nadu’s S. Tamilarasu, who won in 10.22s, the joint fourth-fastest time ever by an Indian. His performance also raised the question of whether he could have gone even faster had the organisers not scheduled the heats, semifinals, and final all on the same day.

The domestic meet had its biggest moment on the second day when local boy Vishal T.K. broke Kerala’s Muhammed Anas’ six-year-old National Record of 45.21s in the 400m with a time of 45.12s. A delighted Vishal removed his bib and displayed its other side, where he had written “For my coach Jason,” referring to Jason Dawson, the Jamaican head coach of India’s 4x400m men’s national relay team.

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While Dawson was extremely pleased with Vishal’s performance, he also noted that he could produce more such results for the country if Indian coaches did not interfere in his programme. Later, addressing Dawson’s complaint, Adille Sumariwalla, former president of the Athletics Federation of India, said, “This has been a topic of discussion for a long time. I don’t want to get into the details, but there are issues, and we are resolving them.”

In men’s shot put, Samardeep Gill recorded a new personal best of 19.82m to beat two-time Olympian and National Record holder Tajinderpal Toor (19.41m) for gold. The 30-year-old Toor, impressed by Gill, six years his junior, told the scribes covering the event – “He is the future; talk to him.” Ruchit Mori became only the eighth Indian man to go sub-50 seconds in the 400m hurdles, as the 23-year-old from Gujarat clocked 49.76s to win gold.

The defining image of the tournament was Tamil Nadu pole vaulters M. Gowtham and Reegan G.  sharing the gold with a meet record of 5.20m.

Published on Aug 26, 2025