National Open Athletics Championships: Bhairabi continues to shine on return with gold in women’s triple jump

Bhairabi Roy overcame a venue-related confusion to claim the women’s triple jump title, while National record holder pole vaulter Dev Meena finished a disappointing third on the rain-battered opening day of the National Open Athletics Championships at the Birsa Munda Stadium, Morabadi, here on Saturday.

Bhairabi, 30, had shifted her training base from Kolkata to Mumbai two months ago after struggling with a hamstring injury last year.

But on Saturday, she continued to perform on her return (from injury) with 13.10m on her fifth attempt, beating Poorva Sawant by five centimetres, following Bhairabi’s ‘personal best of 13.39’ at the Inter-Railway meet three weeks ago.

“I could have done better. I reached another venue bearing the same name, travelled nine kilometres amid heavy traffic and barely managed to report for the competition. I could not warm up, and the track also became slow due to rain,” said Bhairabi, expecting another medal in long jump.

ALSO READ: Shailesh Kumar wins India’s first gold medal at World Para Athletics Championships 2025

In the men’s pole vault, athletes struggled as they could not see the box and bar properly due to poor lighting. Rain also posed problems by stopping the competition midway.

The top-four finishers cleared 5.10m after several failed attempts. M. Gowtham took the gold, followed by Rambeer, Meena and former National record holder Siva S.

World University Games silver medallist Seema beat 18-year-old Sanjana Singh in the final lap to take the women’s 5000m gold with 16:01.27. Nevertheless, it was a satisfying performance for Sanjana, who achieved her personal best of 16:03.23.

Manikanta Hoblidhar equalled his 2023 meet record time, 10.23, in the 100m semifinals and emerged as the fastest among the men so far.

Published on Sep 27, 2025