Abha Khatua creates shot put national record in Federation Cup athletics

Competing at the Kalinga Stadium, Abha Khatua recorded her best throw of 18.41m on her penultimate attempt of the night to take sole possession of the national mark, a release said.

The 28-year-old Abha Khatua previously shared the record with Manpreet Kaur after matching the latter's mark of 18.06m at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok, a release said.

Despite her record-breaking throw, Abha fell short of the Olympic qualifying standard of 18.80m but the performance will improve her standing in the Road to Paris 2024 rankings.

The women's shot put silver medal was won by Kiran Baliyan with a throw of 16.54m while Srishti Vig registered a distance of 15.86m to clinch the bronze.

Animesh Kujur, 20, won the gold in men's 200m with a personal best of 20.62s. He had a previous PB of 20.74s which he set at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru last year.

The performance also makes him the second-fastest Indian in the men's 200m behind national record holder Amlan Borgohain, who clocked 20.52s two years ago. The Olympic qualifying standard for men in this event is set at 20.16s.

Nalubothu S won the silver medal with a time of 20.97s while Jay Shah secured the bronze with 21.31s.

Nithya Ramraj also became the second-fastest women's 100m hurdler of all time after clocking 13.14s in the final. Only Jyothi Yarraji, who holds the national record of 12.78s, is ahead of Nithya. Pragyan Prasanti Sahu won the silver in the event with a time of 13.40s while Moumita Mondal clocked 13.64s to settle for the bronze medal.

In the women's 200m final, 18-year-old Unnathi Bolland defeated veteran Srabani Nanda to win the gold medal with a time of 23.85s. Nanda finished in second place with 23.89s while Devyaniba Mahendrasin won the bronze with 24.14s.

Nayana James triumphed over Asian Championships silver medallist Shaili Singh in the women's long jump final. Nayana won the gold medal with a leap of 6.53m while Shaili settled for silver with 6.34m.

Nayana had also beaten Shaili at the Indian Open Jumps competition in March where she registered a personal best of 6.67m. Neither Nayana nor Shaili has achieved the Olympic qualifying mark of 6.86m yet.

Moumita Mondal bagged the bronze with a 6.18m effort in Bhubaneswar.

In the absence of leading runners Karthik, Gulveer and Abhishek Pal, Sawan Barwal won the gold medal in men's 5000m after clocking 13:51.01. Harmanjot Singh secured the silver medal with 13:51.61 while Kiran Matre finished with the bronze after clocking 13:52.62.

KM Chanda retained her women's 800m Federation Cup title after clocking 2:02.62 in the final. Twinkle finished second with 2:03.94 while the bronze medal went to Amandeep Kaur (2:07.96).

Manav R, who clocked 14.03s, finished in pole position in the men's 110m hurdles race. Nishanthraja G clocked 14.22s to win the silver while Sachin Binu finished close behind on 14.25s to take the bronze. (ANI)