Star sprinters Animesh Kujur and Unnathi Bollanda have qualified for the upcoming Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. Animesh and Unnathi achieved the qualifying marks in the 200m races at the 65th National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
In the women’s pole vault event, Sindhushree G set a new National Record with a leap of 4.25 meters, surpassing the previous record of 4.21 meters. Baranica Flangovan also secured her spot in the Asian Games by clearing 4.20 meters in the same event.
Animesh Kujur clocked 20.87 seconds in the Men’s 200m semifinals to secure his place in the Asian Games. He later won the gold medal in the 200m final with a time of 20.74 seconds. Unnathi Bollanda qualified for the Asian Games by clocking 23.658 seconds in the women’s 200m event.
Tejas Shirse qualified for the Asian Games by clocking 13.43 seconds in the men’s 110m hurdles, surpassing the qualifying mark of 13.63 seconds. In the Men’s Decathlon, Thowfeeq N of Kerala claimed the gold medal with 7276 points, meeting the Asian Games qualification mark.
Manpreet Kaur of Haryana and Srishti Vig of Delhi cleared the Asian Games qualification standard in the Women’s Shot Put event by surpassing the 16.25m mark. The National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships witnessed exceptional performances by various athletes, setting the stage for the 2026 Asian Games.
