National Games
National Games 2025: Animesh Kujur wins third gold; KM Chanda sets meet record
As many as 15 athletes combined to beat men's 20km race walk and women's 10km race walk meet records at 2025 National Games.
The sprinting sensation from Odisha, Animesh Kujur, won his third gold medal of the 2025 National Games, clinching the men's 200m title in Dehradun on Tuesday.
Kujur clocked a timing of 20.58s to win the men's 200m gold rather comfortably. Ragul Kumar (21.06s) and Nitin B (21.07s) finished in the silver and bronze medal positions respectively.
It marked Kujur's third gold at the Games, having won the men's 100m and men's 4x100m relay gold medals in the previous three days.
Despite the stellar show, there's no respite for Kujur, who will now shift his focus towards attaining the qualification standard for the Asian Athletics Championships in May.
"I miss chilli chicken, it's my favourite," Kujur told the broadcasters after his win. "My coach won't allow me to have it as there are important competitions lined up."
Meanwhile, Jyothi Yarraji walked away with the women's 200m gold medal to add to her women's 100m hurdles title in Dehradhun.
"I did not expect [to win] 200m," said Yarraji, who clocked 23.35s in the event. "I did not train also."
Unnathi Aiyappa (23.70s) and Nitya Gandhe (23.76s) finished second and third respectively.
Meet record for KM Chanda
Meanwhile, KM Chanda won her third straight National Games gold medal in women's 800m, further asserting her dominance in the middle distance event.
Chanda clocked an impressive personal best effort of 2:00.82s for the gold medal. It was also a meet record, bettering her own timing from the 2022 National Games in Gujarat.
Chanda has ruled the 800m at the National Games since the competition's returned in 2022.
Twinkle Chaudhary and Amandeep Kaur made it a double podium for Punjab in women's 800m, winning silver and bronze respectively.
Elsewhere, Mohammed Afsal P bagged the men's 800m gold for Services. He was in the fourth spot heading into the final 75m, but managed to overtake everyone to finish on top of the podium.
Praveen Chitravel wins gold
Praveen Chitravel had an easy route to the gold medal in men's triple jump, winning the event with a best effort of 16.50m.
The second placed Muhammed Salahuddin registered 16.01m, while the bronze medal went to Mohammed Muhassin at 15.57m.
In the other field final, Taranveer Singh Bains took home the gold medal in men's hammer throw for Services. He registered a distance of 66.64m.
Damneet Singh of Punjab and Praveen Kumar of Rajasthan won the silver and bronze respectively in the event.
Meet record shatter in race walk
Earlier in the day, the meet record was shattered for fun in men's 20km race walk with as many as six athletes going past the mark of 1:23.26s set back in 2011.
Servin Sebastian won the gold medal with a timing of 1:21.23s, which will now stand as the new record. Suraj Panwar (1:21.34s) and Amanjot Singh (1:24.42s) finished on the podium.
Paramjit Singh, Ram Babu, and Mukesh Nitharwal also breached the existing record.
All six of them also went past the qualification standard set for the upcoming Asian Athletics Championships.
In women's 10km race walk, the meet record of 51.56s set in 2023 was surpassed by a total of nine athletes.
Ravina won the gold medal with a timing of 45 minutes and 52 seconds in the event, whereas Shalini and Munita Prajapati completed the podium.
