New Delhi: Rohit Yadav produced a stunning 87.05m throw to win the javelin on the concluding day of the National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar on Sunday while long jumper Murali Sreeshankar leapt 8.38m to continue his dominating home run.
Rohit’s throw is the best effort by an Indian this season, going past Neeraj Chopra’s 85.69m to finish fourth in the Doha Diamond League earlier this month. Rohit’s winning throw came in his last attempt, by which time he had already met AFI’s entry standard for the Asian Games (77.87m). Yashvir Singh’s 83.72m and Sachin Yadav’s 82.32m completed the podium.
Kishore Jena, the 2023 Asian Games silver medallist, didn’t make the cut after managing only a best of 77.21m.
The long jump pit saw an engaging rivalry between the seasoned Sreeshankar and understudy Shahnavaz Khan. Kerala’s Sreeshankar showed remarkable consistency, producing a series of 8.06m, 8.00m, 8.21m, 8.38m, 8.26m and foul while Uttar Pradesh teenager Shahnavaz’s only 8m-plus jump came on his penultimate try — 8.30m. P David (8.06m) rounded off the top three. AFI’s entry standard at 7.91m meant all three have qualifed for the Asian Games.
In other important results, Haryana’s Pooja SIngh cleared 1.83m to win the women’s high jump and meet AFI’s criterion of 1.80m for Games qualification. Karnataka’s Supriya B and Uttar Pradesh’s Khyati Mathur both jumped 1.80m to finish second and third respectively. The men’s 400m was won by national record holder Vishal TK, who followed his Federation Cup title with a 45.43 secs run.
Manu TS (45.60), Jay Kumar (45.73), Dharmveer Choudhary (45.90) and Rajesh Ramesh (45.91) all ran under AFI’s entry mark of 45.97secs.
