Although kujur

National Federation Senior Athletics Competition: Young Odisha sprinter Animesh Kujur stole the spotlight on the final day of the National Federation Senior Athletics Competition as he shattered the men’s 200m national record, clocking an impressive 20.40 seconds to clinch the gold medal.

The 21-year-old, who had earlier secured silver in the 100m, delivered a stunning performance to eclipse Amlan Borgohain’s previous record of 20.52 seconds set in 2022.

Running with confidence and rhythm, Kujur powered ahead of a strong field that included Borgohain himself, who finished second with a time of 20.80 seconds. Although Kujur fell short of the World Championships qualifying standard of 20.16 seconds - a benchmark considered extremely difficult for Indian sprinters - his effort was more than enough to surpass the Asian Championships qualifying time of 20.53 seconds set by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).