New Delhi: Animesh Kujur, a rising sprinter from Odisha, shone at the National Games 2025 as the athletics competitions got underway on Saturday, February 08. Kujur clinched the elusive gold medal in the men’s 100m event with a record-equalling timing of 10.28 seconds. Kujur defeated some of the most experienced names in a top field in the competition.
Kujur equalled the National Games record of 10.28 seconds set by Assam’s Amlan Borgohain in the 2022 edition where he won gold. Kujur, who has a personal best of 10.27 seconds in 100m, beat Borgohain and Maharashtra’s Pranav Gurav to win gold in men’s 100m. Gurav bagged the silver medal with a timing of 10.32 seconds while Borgohain finished 3rd with a timing of 10.43 seconds.
ANIMESH EQUALS MEET RECORD 🔥
Animesh Kujur won the Gold medal 🏅 in the men’s 100m final at the ongoing National Games 2025
He just 0.01s shy his personal best. #Athletics #IndianAthletics #TrackandField #NationalGames2025 pic.twitter.com/GPcmVrnqGl
— nnis Sports (@nnis_sports) February 8, 2025
In the women’s 100m event, Maharashtra’s Sudeshna Shivankar clocked 11.76 seconds to win gold while Telangana’s Nithya Gandhe finished a close second with a timing of 11.79 seconds to take silver. Giridharani Ravikumar of Tamil Nadu won the bronze medal with a timing of 11.88 seconds.
Sawan Barwal wins gold in men’s 10,000m final
Himachal Pradesh’s Sawan Barwal set a National Games record to win the elusive gold medal in the men’s 1000m final on Saturday. Barwal recorded a timing of 28:49.93 to better the previous record set by Gulveer Singh in the 2022 edition and secure the top spot on the podium. Maharashtra’s Kiran Matre (29:04.76) and Vinod Singh (29:43.60) of Madhya Pradesh won the silver and bronze medals, respectively in the men’s 1000m event.
Maharashtra’s Sanjivani Jadhav won gold in the women’s 10,000m final with a timing of 33:33.47. Meanwhile, Paris Olympian Ankita Dhyani of Uttarakhand won silver while her fellow state mate Soniya took the bronze medal in the women’s 10,000m final.
Gagandeep Singh of the Services won his second successive gold medal in the men’s discus throw event while Haryana’s Nirbhay Singh won silver. Alex P Thankachan of Kerala won the bronze medal. In the women’s discus throw, Haryana’s Seema took gold with a throe of 52.70m with Bhavna Yadav of Delhi clinching the silver medal and Punjab’s Amanat Kamboj winning bronze.
Out of 10 gold medals on offer in the athletics events at the National Games 2025 on Saturday, Maharashtra and Services won two each while Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh managed to win one each.
Odisha’s rising sprinter Animesh Kujur shone at the National Games as he clinched gold in men’s 100m with record-equalling time. Maharashtra’s Sudeshna Shivankar won gold in women’s 100m. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
