Indian Open U-23: Animesh Kujur secures first sprint double gold, betters own meet record in 200m

Kujur showed complete domination to outshine his opponents as he clocked 20.65, which was better than his 20.87 posted last year.

Animesh Kujur (centre) of Orissa won the gold medal in the 200m at the 4th National Open U-23 Athletics Championships 2024. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV/The Hindu

Animesh Kujur bettered his own meet record in the 200m to secure his first set of sprint double gold medals in the Indian Open under-23 athletics meet at the Patliputra Sports Complex here on Monday.

Kujur showed complete domination to outshine his opponents as he clocked 20.65, which was better than his 20.87 posted last year.

“Because of the way I prepared, I am not happy with the timing. But it’s good to get my first double,” said Kujur.

Puneet Yadav followed up his 10,000m title with the 5000m crown. Moumita Mondal, the 100m hurdles champion, bagged her second gold as she won the long jump competition with 6.27m.

Anamika K.A., who lost her expensive spikes on the first day of the heptathlon event, defied the odds to set a new meet record of 5160.

Altogether, four new meet records were made on the concluding day.

The results (finals):

Men: 200m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi) 20.65 (NMR, Old, Animesh Kujur, 20.87, 2023), 2. Nalubothu (AP) 21.19, 3. Tamil Arasu (TN) 21.52; 800m: 1. Shakeel (Raj) 1:51.90, 2. Tushar Bhekane (Kar) 1:51.97, 3. Lokesh K. (Kar) 1:53.23; 5000m: 1. Puneet Yadav (Har) 14:29.15, 2. Rahul Kumar Verma (Cht) 14:30.54, 3. Kunal (Har) 14:32.30; 400m hurdles: 1. Karna Bag (WB) 50.91, 2. Murad Sirman (Guj) 50.91, 3. Nikunj Zala (Guj) 51.17; High jump: 1. Jomon Joy (Ker) 2.17m (NMR, Old, 2.15m, Mohd. Asraf Ali, 2023), 2. Sudeep (Kar) 2.11m, Mohd. Asraf Ali (WB) 2.08m; Hammer: 1. Mayank Yadav (UP) 60.87m, 2. Mukul (MP) 60.39m, 3. Mohd. Nadeem (UP) 60.29m; Javelin: 1. Anand Singh (UP) 74.75m, Vikash Sharma (Utk) 71.99m, 3. Niraj M. (Mah) 71.33m.

Women: 200m: 1. Kusum Thakur (HP) 24.19, 2. Sudeshna Shivankar (Mah) 24.24, 3. Samriti Jamwal (HP) 24.49; 800m: 1. Laxmipriya Kisan (Odi) 2:08.70, 2. Anamdeep Kaur (Pun) 2:09.33, 3. Priscilla Daniel (Ker) 2:11.78; 5000m: 1. Sonam (Del) 16:58.54, 2. Bushra Khan Gauri (MP) 17:11.24, 3. Latika Talwar (Raj) 17:24.66; 400m hurdles: 1. Deekshita (Kar) 1:00.40, Neha Dhabale (Mah) 1:00.77, 3. Moumi Jana (WB) 1:01.14; Long jump: 1. Moumita Mondal (WB) 6.27m, 2. Lakshmi Gemmela (AP) 5.91m, 3. Deesha Ganapathy (Kar) 5.86m; Discus: 1. Sanya Yadav (Har) 50.59m, (NMR, Old, 48.39m, M. Karuniya, 2022), 2. Grima (Har) 49.07m, 3. Neetu Kumari (Raj) 48.26m; Heptathlon: 1. Anamika K.A. (Ker) 5160 (NMR, Old, S. Kumari, 5008, 2023), 2. Pooja (Har) 5066, 3. Deepika S. (TN) 4975.