On Thursday, several Indian athletes made a mark at the 65th National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships and improved their prospects of making it to the 2026 Asian Games. The highlights were Sindhuushree breaking the national record in women’s pole vault and Animesh Kujur and Unnathi Bollanda achieving the Asian Games mark in sprints.

Sindhushree broke the national record in the women's pole vault event by jumping 4.25 meters. She surpassed the previous record of 4.21 meters that was made by Rosy Meena Paulraj in the Indian Championships in Bengaluru in October 2022. In the same event, Baranica Elangovan got qualified for the 2026 Asian Games with a jump of 4.20 meters.

In the men's 200m race, Animesh Kujur qualified for the 2026 Asian Games by running 20.87 seconds in the semi-finals, and later won the gold medal in the finals race after running 20.74 seconds.

In the women's 200m event, Unnathi Bollanda qualified for the Asian Games by clocking 23.658 seconds. Meanwhile, Haritha surpassed the qualification standard with a time of 23.55 seconds, securing her ticket to the continental games in Japan. In the men's 110m hurdles event, Tejas Shirse qualified for the 2026 Asian Games by clocking a time of 13.43 seconds. A day earlier, Jyothi Yarraji had also achieved the qualification standard.

In the men's decathlon, Taufiq N from Kerala won the gold medal with a score of 7,276 points. Maharashtra's Kushal Mohite finished second with 7,251 points, securing the silver medal. Both athletes surpassed the Asian Games qualification mark of 7,250 points.

In the women's shot put event, Manpreet Kaur (Haryana) and Srishti Vig (Delhi) cleared the qualification standard of 16.25 meters. Both athletes, along with Krishna Jayashankar, strengthened their bids for the Asian Games.

On the first day of the championship, pole vaulter Dev Meena, young hammer thrower Anushka Yadav, and sprinter-hurdler Jyothi Yarraji also made headlines with their impressive performances. These displays by Indian athletes are considered an encouraging sign for the country ahead of the Asian Games, which are set to begin on September 19 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.