On Thursday, several Indian athletes made a mark at the 65th National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships and improved their prospects of making it to the 2026 Asian Games. The highlights were Sindhuushree breaking the national record in women’s pole vault and Animesh Kujur and Unnathi Bollanda achieving the Asian Games mark in sprints.
Sindhushree broke the national record in the women’s pole vault event by jumping 4.25 meters. She surpassed the previous record of 4.21 meters that was made by Rosy Meena Paulraj in the Indian Championships in Bengaluru in October 2022. In the same event, Baranica Elangovan got qualified for the 2026 Asian Games with a jump of 4.20 meters.
In the men’s 200m race, Animesh Kujur qualified for the 2026 Asian Games by running 20.87 seconds in the semi-finals, and later won the gold medal in the finals race after running 20.74 seconds.
In the women’s 200m event, Unnathi Bollanda qualified for the Asian Games by clocking 23.658 seconds. Meanwhile, Haritha surpassed the qualification standard with a time of 23.55 seconds, securing her ticket to the continental games in Japan. In the men’s 110m hurdles event, Tejas Shirse qualified for the 2026 Asian Games by clocking a time of 13.43 seconds. A day earlier, Jyothi Yarraji had also achieved the qualification standard.
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