Animesh Kujur and Annu Rani win gold, have a superb probability to qualify for worlds

Odisha’s Animesh Kujur and Annu Rani of Uttar Pradesh had been the principle sights late within the night within the National inter-state athletics meet on the Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday (August 23, 2025). For they had been the favourites to win gold of their respective disciplines and make sure their spots by means of rating factors for subsequent month’s World championships in Tokyo.

Expectedly, Kujur and Rani received the gold medal in males’s 200m and girls’s javelin throw, respectively, however carried out effectively beneath their private greatest. Though each are in fairly a robust place to go to Tokyo, a transparent image will emerge when the ultimate listing of who has made the reduce is launched subsequent week.

Kujur emerged a snug winner in a brand new meet file time of 20.63s, ending effectively forward of Ragul Kumar (20.92) and Amlan Borgohain (21.19).

Watched by India’s head coach Sergey Makarov of Russia, Rani threw 61.05m to win gold. She began with 61.05m, then did a sequence of beneath par throws: 57.22, 60.21, 59.48, foul and eventually completed with a 60.41 in her final try. “I hope to peak on the Worlds,” stated Rani.

In males’s shot put, Madhya Pradesh’s Samardeep Gill upset Tajinderpal Toor Singh to win the gold medal with a throw of 19.82m. The National file holder Tajinderpal may solely do 19.41.

Moumita Mondal of West Bengal pushed favorite Shaili Singh to the second place, with a bounce of 6.27m within the girls’s lengthy bounce. Singh leapt to a distance of 6.18m. Tamil Nadu’s S. Dhanalakshmi bagged a double, by profitable the ladies’s 200m in a time of 23.53s to go together with the 100m she had received the opposite day.

The outcomes

Men: 200m: Animesh Kujur (Odi) 20.63 (NMR) (OR: Animesh Kaur, Panchkula, 20.65s, 2024); 400mH: Ruchit Mori (Guj) 49.76m; 800m: Krishan Kumar (Har) 1:48.41s; excessive bounce: Sarvesh Kushare (Mah) 2.24m; shot put: Samardeep Gill (MP) 19.82m.

Women: 200m: S. Dhanalakshmi (TN) 23.53s; 400mH: Ramandeep Kaur (Pun) 58.90s; 800m: Pooja (Har) 2:02.27s; lengthy bounce: Moumit Mondal (WB) 6.27m; Discus throw: Seema (Har) 57.18m; javelin throw: Annu Rani (UP) 61.05m.