NEW DELHI: Anjali Devi, representing Haryana, made a remarkable comeback after a four-year injury lay-off, delivering a stunning performance to win the gold medal in the women's 400m event at the National Inter-State Championship in Bhubaneswar. Her victory secured her a place in the Indian contingent for the upcoming Asian Games.
Anjali, 24 years old, had last participated in a 400m race in October 2019 at the Indian Open Championships. In her comeback race, she clocked an impressive time of 51.48 seconds, surpassing her previous personal best of 51.53s set in Lucknow. Her outstanding performance was nearly one-and-a-half seconds faster than the Asian Games qualifying time of 52.96 seconds.
Himanshi Malik, also from Haryana, finished closely behind Anjali with a time of 51.76 seconds, earning herself the silver medal. R Vithya Ramraj from Tamil Nadu secured the bronze medal with a time of 52.49 seconds, while Aishwarya Kailash Mishra from Maharashtra finished fourth in 52.79 seconds. All three athletes, including Himanshi and the bronze medalist, ran below the Asian Games qualifying time.
However, only two out of the four athletes will be selected to represent the country in the event, as per the rule allowing a maximum of two participants per event.
In the semifinal heats, Anjali had clocked 52.03 seconds earlier in the day, following her time of 52.89 seconds in the first round heats held on Thursday. Remarkably, all three races she has participated in since recovering from her serious 2019 injury have surpassed the Asian Games qualifying mark.
The impressive performance of four Indian quarter-milers running below 53 seconds bodes well for India's chances of winning a sixth consecutive gold medal in the women's 4x400m relay at the Asian Games, a streak that dates back to 2002.
In the men's 400m, Sri Lankan Kalinga Kumarage won the gold, clocking 45.64 seconds, while national record holder Muhammed Anas Yahiya of Kerala, who has also suffered injuries on and off recently, clinched silver with a time of 45.76s.
Muhammed Ajmal, also from Kerala, and Amoj Jacob of Delhi were third and fourth with times of 45.90s and 45.91s.
All the four top finishers bettered the Asian Games qualifying time of 46.17s, which like in the case of women, is good news for the Indian men's 4x400m relay.
B Shiba Kumar of Tamil Nadu emerged as the fastest man of the championship as he clocked 10.37 seconds to win the 100m dash while Harjit Singh (10.45s) of Punjab and Elakkiyadasan K of Tamil Nadu were second and third respectively.
None of them could come close to the 10.19 seconds qualifying time for the Asian Games.
Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh, the national record holder in 100m hurdles, became the fastest woman of the championship as she ran 11.46 seconds to win gold in 100m dash. She came close to touching the 10.46 seconds qualifying time for the Asian Games.
Earlier in the say, National record holder Manju Rani of Punjab won gold in the women's 35km race walk event but failed to breach the Asian Games qualifying mark. The 24-year-old Rani clocked 3 hours 21 minutes and 31 seconds under hot and humid conditions to win the event but fell well short of the Asian Games qualifying mark of 2:58.30. She had clocked the national record time of 2:57:54 in the Indian Race Walking Championships in Ranchi in February.
Haryana's Juned Khan won the men's 35km race walk event, clocking 3:00:37.00 which was also well short of the Asian Games qualifying time of 2:35.00.
National record holder Ram Baboo, who had won the title in the Indian Race Walking Championships in Ranchi with a time of 2:31.36.00, did not take part in the event.
(With PTI inputs)
