Animesh Kujur sets 200m meet record

Bengaluru: Odisha's Animesh Kujur sped his way to victory in the men's 200m final, setting a new meet record time of 20.74 seconds on day four of the 62nd National Open Athletics Championships at the Kanteerava Stadium here in Bengaluru on Saturday. 

Kujur, on lane three, did not enjoy the best of starts, but managed to pull ahead at the bend and clinched a comfortable victory, finishing ahead of Services' Akshay Nain and Railways' Shashikanth Angadi.

Punjab's Kamaljeet Kaur won gold in the women's corresponding event.

Haryana's athletes stole the limelight on the penultimate day of the Championships. Jyoti set the stage with gold in the women's javelin throw with a 53.59m effort, while Priyanka bagged bronze, behind Railways' Karishma Sanil.

Pooja emerged the class of the field in the women's high jump with a 1.81m leap, besting Railways duo of Angel Devasia and Abhinaya Shetty.

Satya Dev won the men's 800m run, finishing with a time of 1:51.89. Maharashtra's Yamuna Ladkat won the women's final.

Athletes from Railways and Services also continued to impress. Railways won gold and bronze in the women's 400m hurdles, courtesy of Sinchal and Nanhi.

Railways' Sonu Kumari finished top in the women's heptathlon with a total points tally of 4933, while team-mate Tanu won silver with 4854 points.

It was a 1-2 finish for Services duo of Arun AB and Karthik U in the men's triple jump. Md Hasan eased to gold in the men's 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:38.70, four seconds ahead of silver medallist Prince Raj Mishra. 

Results (Finals only): Men: 200m: Animesh Kujur (Odisha, 20.74s) 1; Akshay Nain (SSCB, 20.97s) 2; Shashikanth Angadi (Railways, 21.14s) 3. 800m: Satya Dev (Haryana, 1:51.89) 1; Anu Kumar (Uttarakhand, 1:52.13) 2; Somnath Chauhan (Railways, 1:52.20) 3. 400m hurdles: Nikhil Bhardwaj (Punjab, 50.45s) 1; Vijay Malik (SSCB, 50.74s) 2; Rohan Kamble (ONGC, 50.87) 3. 3000m steeplechase: Md Hasan (SSCB, 8:38.70) 1; Prince Raj Mishra (Railways, 8:42.74) 2; Ankit Rajesh (SSCB, 8:43.65) 3. Triple jump: Arun AB (SSCB, 16.46m) 1; Karthik U (SSCB, 16.15m) 2; Mohammed SN (16.06m) 3.

Women: 200m: Kamaljeet Kaur (Punjab, 23.66s) 1; Srabani Nanda (Odisha, 23.88s) 2; Giridharani Ravikumar (Tamil Nadu, 24.31s) 3. 800m: Yamuna Ladkat (Maharashtra, 2:01.95) 1; Chanda (Railways, 2:02.66) 2; Ashakiran Barla (Jharkhand, 2:03.01) 3. 400m hurdles: Sinchal (Railways, 57.99s) 1; Veerpal Kaur (Punjab, 58.69 2; Nanhi (Railways, 59.60) 3. 3000m steeplechase: Komal Jagdale (Railways, 10:32.14) 1; Bhagyashree Navale (ONGC, 10:33.70) 2; Preenu Yadav (Railways, 10:35.10) 3. Heptathlon: Sonu Kumari (Railways, 4933 pts) 1; Tanu (Railways, 4854 pts) 2; Pooja (Haryana, 4823 pts) 3. Javelin throw: Jyoti (Haryana, 53.59m) 1; Karishma Sanil (Railways, 52.86m) 2; Priyanka (Haryana, 52.57m) 3. High jump: Pooja (Haryana, 1.81m) 1; Angel Devasia (Railways, 1.79m) 2; Abhinaya Shetty (Railways, 1.76m) 3. 

Mixed: 4x400m relay: ONGC (3:25.33) 1; Police Sports Control (3:24.47) 2; Haryana (3:24.87) 3.