Six male triple jumpers and seven other athletes met the Japan Asian Games qualification standards at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Bhubaneswar. The Athletics Federation of India will select the Asian Games-bound contingent after the Bhubaneswar competition concludes, with two athletes representing each track and field event.
In the evening session, hammer throwers excelled with Punjab’s Damneet Singh achieving a distance of 69.72m, surpassing the 69.12m Asian Games qualification mark. Rajasthan’s Praveen Kumar also qualified with a throw of 69.58m, securing the silver medal.
Following the hammer throw, Haryana athletes dominated the discus throw event, with Seema, Sanya Yadav, and Nidhi securing top positions and surpassing the Asian Games qualification mark of 55.48m.
The men’s triple jump event witnessed the top six jumpers hitting the Asian Games qualification mark of 16.28m, with Praveen Chithravel clinching gold with a jump of 16.92m. Away from the field events, Tejas Shrise set a new national record in the men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.61 seconds, better than the Asian Games qualification time of 13.63 seconds.
Vithya Ramraj of Tamil Nadu posted a time of 56.69 seconds in the women’s 400m hurdles heats, positioning herself for an Asian Games berth.
