64th National Inter-State Sr. Athletics C'ship 2025: All you need to know

The 2025 Inter-State Athletics is all set to commence in Chennai on Wednesday.

The five-day event is a high-stakes competition with multiple top Indian athletes vying to attain the qualifying standards for the 2025 World Athletics Championships. In more ways than one, this is a last ditch effort for qualification, for the cut-off period for the World Championships ends on 24 August, 2025 – the same day the Inter-State meet concludes in Chennai.

Athletes in contention to qualify

Animesh Kujur

Animesh Kujur is currently placed 42nd in the men's 200m Road to Tokyo rankings. While he is just within the qualifying range via rankings, a good display at the Inter-States will hand him the much needed points boost to climb up to an even safer post.

Animesh's personal best and the Indian national record in the event stands at 20.32s, almost 0.16s below the World Championships direct qualification mark of 20.16s.

While breaching the 20.16s barrier could be tall order, Animesh would hope to better his own national record and improve his rankings.

If Animesh does end up qualifying, he would be the first Indian man to compete at the World Championships in 100m or 200m. 

Sarvesh Kushare

Men's high jumper Sarvesh Kushare sits just outside the world ranking quota place. He has 1154 points to his name at the moment and is among the first two alternate athletes in the list behind the 36th placed Zhen Wang of China, who has 1156 points.

A total of 36 athletes qualify for World Championships in men's high jump and a good outing at the Inter-Sates will hand Kushare a much needed boost to qualify via the ranking route.

Needless to say, he can also hit the direct qualification mark of 2.33m. However, considering the fact that his season best stands at 2.26m, it might not really be feasible.

Murali Sreeshankar

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar made a stellar return from injury earlier this season. And since his return, he has won every competition that he has entered and would hope to continue the good run the Inter-States.

Sreeshankar's long injury lay-off means he is not ranked currently in the Road to Tokyo Rankings.

The Inter-States will be his fifth competition on return and as per World Athletics rules, an athletes need to compete in at least five events over a 12 month qualification period to qualify via the world rankings route.

The Inter-States, however, will help Sreeshankar get ranked and provide him with an opportunity to hit the direct qualification mark of 8.27m. That said, he does have some ground to cover, given that his season best recorded earlier this month was a jump of 8.13m.

Abdulla Aboobacker

Triple jumper Abdulla Aboobacker is within the qualifying range via the rankings route currently and the Inter-States provides him an opportunity to further improve on that. 

He also holds a season best of 17.19m, just short of the direct qualifying mark of 17.22m.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor

Over the years, the big and burly Toor, has been an Asian giant in men's shotput. The ongoing 2025 season, however, has been different.

The national record holder has struggled for form and has not touched the 20m mark even once. At the moment, he is a pale shadow from his personal best of 21.77m.

With the direct qualification mark set at 21.50m and his rank at the Road to Tokyo rankings nowhere near close, Toor will have his task cut out in Chennai.

Sachin Yadav

Sachin Yadav has been the find of the season for India. The javelin thrower is well placed to qualify via the ranking route, placed 22nd with 1208 points.

With a personal best of 85.16m, he is also agonisingly close to the direct qualification mark of 85.50m.

Shaili Singh

Shaili Singh has had an inconsistent run in women's long jump this season. She has crossed the 6.50m mark just once this season with a best of 6.64m.

Long touted to be the next big thing in Indian athletics, Shail is placed outside the qualification range via the rankings route and will need to be at her best at the Inter-States to gather valuable points.

Alternatively, she will need to register a national record with the direct qualification mark for the event set at 6.86m.

Annu Rani

After a slow start to the 2025 season, Annu Rani has hit her stride running in the last two competitions. She is now breaching the 60m barrier for fun and fell just short of the direct qualification mark with a throw of 62.59m in Poland earlier this month.

The direct qualification mark stands at 64m but even if she falls short of it in Chennai, she is well placed in the Road to Tokyo Rankings.

Other Athletes to watch out for

Some other athletes to watch out for at the Inter-States include triple jumper Praveen Chitravel, who has already qualified for the World Championships and the ever-consistent Vishal TK in men's 400m.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the likes of former 100m national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar, 400m veteran Amoj Jacob, 800m Asian Games medallist Krishan Kumar and national high jumper record holder Tejaswin Shankar.

Among the women, sprinter Dhanalakshmi returns after a dope ban and a stacked 400m field remain the ones to be watched out for.

Athletes missing in action 

Quite a few big names like Jyothi Yarraji, Ancy Sojan, Avinash Sable, Rupal Chaudhary among others will miss the 2025 Inter-States due to various injuries.

Of course, Neeraj Chopra will not be in action either. And neither will Parul Chaudhary or 400m national record holder Muhammad Anas Yahiya.

Where to Watch?

You can catch all the LIVE action from the 2025 Inter-States on AFI's YouTube channel and in parallel you will get all the live updates on thebridge.in