20-year-old clocks 20.74s; Sinchal claims 400m hurdles gold
BENGALURU: Getting his career back on track after dengue put him out of action for weeks, Odisha's Animesh Kujur lowered the meet record in men's 200m clocking 20.74 seconds on the penultimate day at the National Open Athletics Championships here on Saturday. For the 20-year-old, who trains at the Reliance Foundation Odisha Athletics HPC, the new time at the Sree Kanteerava stadium was better than his personal best of 20.93s set in Ranchi in May. Earlier in the season, Kujur had won the silver medal in the Federation Cup.
The meet record was in the name of Amlan Borgohain, who had clocked 20.75 two years back in Warangal. "I was getting into peak form before dengue struck. For this meet, I started training only 20-25 days back. It has been nearly a year since I started working with coach Martin Owens," Animesh, son of former hockey player Amrit Kujur who is now a Dy SP with Chhattisgarh Police, told TOI. "Today I wanted to do my best time and I'm happy to post my personal best and bag the meet record."
Inter-Services champion Akshay Nain improved upon his personal best to 20.97s for the silver while inter-Railway silver medallist Shashikanth Angadi bagged the bronze in 21.14 seconds. In women's 400m hurdles, national champion Vithya Ram Raj was absent from Lane 5. Karnataka athlete Sinchal Kaveramma, representing Railways, won the gold in 57.88s.
The win also helped Sinchal, the silver winner at Inter-State meet, to overcome the Asian Games disappointment where she had crashed out in the first round clocking a below-par time of 58.62s. Punjab's Veerpal Kaur came second in 58.69s followed by Railways Nanhi in 59.6 seconds.
Results:
Men: 200m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi, 20.74s MR. Old: Amlan Borgohain, 20.75, 2021); 2. Akshay Nain (SSCB, 20.97); 3. Shashikanth Angadi (Rlys, 21.14) 800m:1. Satya Dev (Har, 1:51.89); 2. Anu Kumar (Utk, 1:52.13); 3. Somnath Chauhan (Rlys, 1:52.2) 400mH:1. Nikhil Bhardwaj (Pun, 50.45); 2. Vijay Malik (SSCB, 50.74); 3. Rohan Kamble (ONGC, 50.87) 3000m Steeplechase: 1. Md Hasan (SSCB, 8:38.7); 2. Prince Raj Mishra (Rlys, 8:42.74); 3. Ankit Rajesh (SSCB, 8:43.65) Triple jump: 1. Aruna B (SSCB, 16.46m); 2. Karthik U (SSCB, 16.15); 3. Mohammed SN (TN, 16.06). Women:200m: 1. Kamaljeet Kaur (Pun, 23.66s); 2. Srabani Nanda (Odi, 23.88); 3. Giridharani Ravikumar (TN, 24.31) 800m: 1. Yamuna Ladkat (Mah, 2:01.95); 2. Chanda (Rlys, 2:02.66); 3. Ashakiran Barla (Jha, 2:03.01) 400mH: 1. Sinchal K (Rlys, 57.88); 2. Veerpal Kaur (Pun, 58.69); 3. Nanhi (Rlys, 59.6) 3000m Steeplechase: 1. Komal Jagadale (Rlys, 10:32.14); 2. Bhagyashree Navale (ONGC, 10:33.7); 3. Preenu Yadav (Rlys, 10:35.1) High jump:1. Pooja (Har, 1.81m); 2. Angel Devasia (Rlys, 1.79); 3. Abhinaya Shetty (Rlys, 1.76) Javelin throw: 1. Jyoti (Har, 53.59); 2. Karishma Sanil (Rlys, 52.86); 3. Priyanka (Har, 52.57) Heptathlon: 1. Sonu Kumari (Rlys, 4933 points); 2. Tanu (Rlys, 4854); 3. Pooja (Har, 4823) Mixed: 4x400m relay:1. ONGC (3:23.33s); 2. Police SCB (3:24.47); 3. Haryana (3:24.87)
