Athletics
Indian Open Athletics: Annu Rani, Murali Sreeshankar win in Bhubaneswar
Annu Rani registered a best of 62.01m.
Annu Rani finished 7th in the 2022 World Athletics Championships. (FILE PHOTO: Reuters)
India's Annu Rani continued her good run of form to clinch the women's javelin throw title at the 2025 Indian Open – a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze level event in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Rani recorded a best distance of 62.01m with her fourth attempt to clinch the title.
This was Rani's second title win within a week, having won the International Wiesław Maniak Memorial with a season best distance of 62.59m just three days ago.
The recent string of performances puts Rani in a good stead ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships, the qualification window for which closes later this month.
Vishal TK wins 400m
Elsewhere, Vishal TK continued his impressive run in the 2025 season as he bagged the men's 400m title at the Kalinga Stadium.
Vishal clocked a timing of 45.72s to finish ahead of the more experienced Amoj Jacob, who registered a season best 45.86s to finish the race.
Meanwhile, Vijaykumari won the women's 400m title with a timing of 53.40s ahead of Devyaniba Zala's 53.78s.
In the all India women's 100m final, Abhinaya Rajarajan clocked 11.57s for the gold medal. Sneha SS and Nithya Gandhe finished second and third respectively.
However, India had a disappointing outing in the men's 100m as Malaysia's Muhammed Azeem took the title with a 10.35s run.
No Indian finished on the podium with Lalu Prasad Bhoi's 10.54s run only good enough for a fourth-place finish.
Murali Sreeshankar, Animesh Kujur win
Murali Sreeshankar, who recently made a return from an injury, won the men's long jump event with a season best effort of 8.13m.
Sreeshankar, who is vying for the 2025 World Athletics Championships qualifying mark was made to work hard by the 17-year-old Shanavaz Khan.
The youngster broke the 8m barrier for the first time in his career, registering a best of 8.04m to finish second.
It was only after Khan took the lead that Sreeshankar brought out his winning leap with his final leap of the competition.
On the other hand, sprinter Animesh Kujur carried his good form into the competition. He won the men's 200m title with a timing of 20.77s.
In other major results Shaili Singh won women's long jump with a best of 6.28m, while Abdulla Aboobacker recorded 16.53m to win men's triple jump.
Shivam Lohakare shines
In the men's javelin throw, Shivam Lohakare finished second with a throw of 80.73m.
Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage won the event and qualified for the 2025 World Athletics Championships with a national record of 86.50m. The other Sri Lankan in contention, Sumedha Ranasinghe finished third with 80.65m.
