Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 23 : Indian national record holders Annu Rani (women's javelin throw) and Animesh Kujur (men's 200 m) secured impressive wins at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships on Friday.
Rani generated the best throw of 61.05 m on her first attempt, backing it up with two more 60-m plus throws. Completing the podium were Deepika (57.19m) and Karishma Sanil (51.30m), respectively, as per Olympics.com.
Annu has enjoyed a little bit of resurgance in the ongoing season, breaching the 60 m mark for the first time in over a year and winning the competition in Poland with her best throw in two years, 62.59 m. Annu, who is also the current Asian Games champion, registered 62.01 m to land the Indian Open title in August.
In the men's 200 m, Kujur stormed home with a time of 20.63 seconds, setting a new meet record, overtaking his own record of 20.65 seconds, achieved last year. The podium was completed by Ragul Kumar G (20.92s) and former national record holder Amlan Borgohain (21.19s).
Now, with these wins, Annu and Animesh qualified for the next month's World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The qualification window ends on Sunday, with this meet being the final chance for Indian athletes to breach the entry standard or better their rankings in the Race to Tokyo.
Annu Rani is currently 28th in the Road to Tokyo 25 rankings with 36 quota places available, while Kujur sits at 42nd in his event with 48 slots on offer.
Neither athlete has breached the entry standard, but the Inter-State meet has earned them valuable ranking points, which will be updated on Sunday and see them qualify for the World Championships.
The day saw an upset in men's shot put as gold went to Samardeep Gill with a throw of 19.82m, outclassing former Asian record holder and Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor (silver with 19.41 m).
A total of ten finals were contested on Saturday, but no Indian could earn a direct qualification mark for Tokyo. Big names, including Murali Sreeshankar (long jump) and Tejaswin Shankar (high jump), will feature on the final day of the track and field competition.
National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2025 Day 4 results
-Men's high jump: Sarvesh Kushare (2.24m); 2. Aadarsh Ram (2.21m); 3. Swadhin Kumar Majhi (2.18m)
-Women's javelin throw: Annu Rani (61.05m); 2. Deepika (57.19m); 3. Karishma Sanil (51.30m)
-Men's 400m hurdles: Ruchit Mori (49.76s); 2. Subhas Das (50.61s); 3. Hardeep (51.03)
-Men's shot put: Samardeep Gill (19.82m); 2. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (19.41m); 3. Aniket (18.09m)
-Women's 400m hurdles: Ramandeep Kaur (58.90s); 2. Olimba Steffi (59.21s); 3. Deekshita Ramak Gowda (1:00.09s)
-Women's long jump: Moumita Mondal (6.27m); 2. Shaili Singh (6.18m); 3. Sherin A (6.16m)
-Women's 200m: Dhana Lakshmi (23.53s); 2. Shivani Saini (24.04s); 3. Sakshi Chavan (24.05s)
-Men's 200m: Animesh Kujur (20.63s); 2. Ragul Kumar G (20.92s); 3. Amlan Borgohain (21.19s)
-Women's 800m: Pooja (2:02.27); 2. Huidrom Devi (2:04.44); 3. Thota Sankeertana (2:04.56)
-Men's 800m: Krishan Kumar (1:48.41); 2. Tushar Bhekane (1:48.82); 3. Prakash Gadade (1:48.86).