Uttar Pradesh’s Kartik Kumar produced the best time by an Indian in the 10,000m event this year, clocking 29 minutes 1.84 seconds, to win the crown in the National Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar on Thursday. In conforming his form ahead of the Asian Games, he rewrote a 16-year-old Meet Record.
He sprinted away from team-mate Gulveer Singh, and prevented his hat-trick of victories after the National Games in Gandhinagar in October 2022 and the Federation Cup in Ranchi last month. Delhi’s Pritam Kumar and Madhya Pradesh’s Harman Jot Singh were the other runners who matched the 29:30.00, set as Asian Games qualifying standard, for the second time this season.
Bhawna Jat also produced a meet record, winning the women’s 20km Race Walk in 1 hour 37 minutes 3 seconds, improving on a 17-year-old mark. Priyanka Goswami, who finished second, and she had met the Asian Games standard of 1:35:00.00, in the National Race Walking Championships in Ranchi in February this year.
Anjali Devi makes a strong 400m comeback
Running her first 400m race in three years and 8 months, Haryana’s Anjali Devi produced a blistering 52.89-second effort to become only the second woman quarter-miler after Aishwarya Kailash Mishra to breach the Asian Games qualifying mark of 52.96 seconds this year. R Vithya Ramraj’s 52.97-seconds, run in the heats, was the only other sub-53 time on Thursday.
Battling an injury, Anjali had run but four 200m races since October 2019. She laid down the gauntlet with an authoritative sprint. Her stunning comeback will revive the belief that India can launch a serious effort to sustain its grip over the Asian Games women’s 4x400m Relay event. Thursday’s heats were also notable for Nirmala Sheoran’s return after a doping-related ban.
Rezoana Mallick, Asian women’s U20 400m champion, clocked 55.20 seconds and made it to the semifinals as one of the four fastest runners who did not secure automatic berths by finishing in the top three of their respective heats. Jisna Mathew, the vastly experienced PT Usha protégé, also lived to fight another day by securing a semifinal berth similarly.
Jyothi and Elakkiyadasan emerge fastest sprinters in heats
Jyothi Yarraji (Andhra Pradesh) was the fastest in the women’s 100m heats with a time of 11.65 seconds ahead of hometown favourite Srabani Nanda. Jyothi showed no signs of being hampered by thoughts of disqualification in her last 100m race at home and sped away to a comfortable win. Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu) and AT Daneshwari (Karnataka) did not start.
The men’s 100m heats saw Tamil Nadu’s K Elakkiyadasan produce the best time. He won his heat in 10.65 seconds while Odisha’s emerging sprinter Lalu Prasad Bhoi’s 10.69 effort was the only other sub-10.70-second time in the six heats. Odisha’s experienced Amiya Kumar Mallick won his heat but Dondapati Jayaram, his teenaged team-mate, did not start.
The results (finals):
Men
10000m: 1. Kartik Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 29:01.84 (New Meet Record. Old: 29:06.17, Surendra Singh, Bhopal, 2007); 2. Gulveer Singh (Uttar Pradesh) 29:03.78; 3. Pritam Kumar (Delhi) 29:22.36.
20km Race Walk: 1. Sandeep Kumar (Haryana) 1:27:12.00; 2. S Servin (Tamil Nadu) 1:28:21.00; 3. Hardeep (Haryana) 1:28:57.00
Women
10000m: 1. Seema (Himachal Pradesh). 34:20.01; 2. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav) 34:34.10; 3. Poonam Dinkar Sonune (Maharashtra) 34:45.42.
20km Race Walk: 1. Bhawna Jat (Rajasthan) 1:37:03.00 (New Meet Record. Old: 1:39:00.60, Deepmala Devi, Chennai, 2006); 2. Priyanka Goswami (Uttar Pradesh) 1:40:33.00; 3. Vandana (Karnataka) 1:41:54.00.
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