In New Delhi, Animesh Kujur of Odisha won the 100m dash in a photo finish, becoming the star sprinter at the one-day Indian Athletics Series on Saturday.
Kujur, who began his outdoor season on the 'fast' Mondo track, won the 200m race in the morning session, finishing in 20.74 seconds, beating Vishal T, who had a time of 21.01 seconds. Vishal T was representing NCOE Trivandrum.
Dharamveer Choudhary of Rajasthan clocked the third best time of 21.03 seconds. More than 50 athletes competed in the men's 200m race.
The 22-year-old Kujur faced a tough challenge from Tamil Arasu of Railways in the 100m dash, as both athletes initially had identical times of 10.28 seconds. Later, the photo finish favored Kujur, who clocked 10.272 seconds compared to Tamil Arasu's 10.280 seconds.
Gurvindervir Singh, who won the 60m gold in the National Indoor Championships last month in Bhubaneswar, finished third with a time of 10.40 seconds.
"The race was very close, but it's okay. This was the season opener, my first race. And I am happy with the timing," Kujur said later.
"This is the best timing for a season opener. Last year, I achieved 10.5 in the season opener, and this year, I achieved 10.28. It's good. I will perform well in the upcoming Federation Cup (in May) and National Inter-State (in June)."
Regarding the newly laid Mondo track at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kujur said, "This track is very fast. Mondo is very fast. Although I have competed on Mondo before outside the country, in Belgium, Monaco, etc., this is my first outdoor race on Mondo in India."
"There is not much wind today," he added.
Shaili Singh won the women's long jump with a distance of 6.24m, while Pariksha of Haryana came in second with 6.10m. Shaili chose to have just three jumps out of six. Of these, she had one legal jump of 6.24m, while the other two were fouls. Mubassina Mohammed of Lakshadweep came in third with 6.05m.
The women's 200m also saw mediocre results, with Priyanka Sikarwar of All India Police finishing on top with a time of 23.91 seconds, while Unnathi Bollanda of Karnataka came in second with 24.12 seconds.
Mohd Atta Sazid of Haryana won the men's long jump event with a distance of 7.86m.
Karnataka's Shailesh Kushwaha won the men's 10000m race in a time of 30:01.08. Uttarakhand's Anu Kumar won the men's 800m race in a time of 1:49.87.
The men's 110m hurdles was won by Muhammed Lazan of JSW Sports in a time of 14.23 seconds. C Anjali of JSW Sports came in first in the women's 100m hurdles in a time of 13.58 seconds.
Tanya Chaudhary of Uttar Pradesh won the women's hammer throw with a distance of 61.29m.
Hima Das returns to track
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Asian Games medallist Hima Das of Assam returned to the tracks after two years but she could only clock 25.42 seconds in the 200m and 57.94 seconds in the 400m, making her among the slowest in both races.
"This is my first competition after two years, and I feel very good. I won't say I am 100% yet. I had a training session yesterday. I am slowly getting back to normal. I hope I can do better in the next competition," she said.
"I had a knee surgery in Reliance Hospital in Mumbai. The doctor did a good job to make me recover," Hima said, who had served a 16-month suspension for whereabouts failures between July 2023 and November 2024.
She said she is trying hard to get selected for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games later in the year.
"Of course, the Games are the aim of every athlete. The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are very popular in India," she added.
"I am trying hard. The season has just started. There are back-to-back Games coming up. I will also be competing in the Federation Cup (in May)."
Rashdeep Kaur of Punjab won the women's 400m title with a time of 53.10 seconds, while Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra and Priya Habbathanahal came in second and third with times of 53.30 seconds and 54.24 seconds respectively.
