Animesh Kujur clinched the men’s 100m title at the 65th National Inter-State Athletics Championships, clocking 10.28 seconds to finish ahead of Maharashtra’s Pranav Gurav, who took silver in 10.39 seconds. While the victory added another national title to Kujur’s growing collection, the final proved to be a disappointing outing for India’s leading sprinters.
Both Kujur and Gurav finished well outside the Asian Games qualification standard of 10.16 seconds, with neither athlete able to produce the kind of times that have recently raised expectations for Indian men’s sprinting.
The result was particularly underwhelming given the extraordinary performances witnessed at the Federation Cup just weeks ago. There, Gurindervir Singh became the first Indian man to break the 10.10-second barrier, setting a sensational national record of 10.09 seconds. The competition also saw the national record rewritten multiple times as Gurindervir and Kujur pushed each other to historic performances, with Kujur himself clocking 10.15 seconds before Gurindervir lowered the mark even further.
Those performances signalled a new era for Indian sprinting and suggested that consistently fast times were becoming the norm. Against that backdrop, the Inter-State final failed to live up to expectations.
Kujur remains one of India’s finest sprinters and has enjoyed a breakthrough season, establishing himself among the country’s fastest ever athletes and emerging as a genuine contender on the Asian stage. However, his winning time of 10.28 seconds was well below the level he has shown himself capable of producing.
With the Asian Games qualification mark still out of reach in this race, India’s top sprinters will now be hoping to rediscover their record-breaking form in the competitions ahead.