Bhubaneswar: Odisha ace sprinters Animesh Kujur and Srabani Nanda made the country proud by winning an individual bronze and a relay team silver medal respectively on the concluding day of the Asian Athletics Championships at Gumi in South Korea on Saturday.
Animesh won the bronze medal in the men’s 200m race by clocking 20.32 sec, with personal best timing he also created a new national record. He missed the silver medal by a whisker as Saudi Arabia sprinter Abdulaziz Abdu clocked 20.31 sec to grab the silver medal, while Japanese athlete Towa Uzawa won the gold with 20.12 sec.
Earlier, in the heats Animesh clocked 20.98 second and became the fastest in his heats to qualify for the semifinals. With 20.81 sec in the semifinals, he qualified for the final.
With this, Animesh clinched a bronze medal in the 200m event after a gap of ten years for the country in the Asian Athletics Championships. Dharambir Singh, who won India’s first medal (bronze) in 200m in the Asian Championships, in 2015.
Animesh rewrote his 200m personal best timing’s twice, earlier he set the national record at 20.40s during the Federation Cup held at Kerala from 21-24 April 2025.
Animesh Kujur quoted, “I’m really proud of winning the bronze medal in my first ever major international championship. At the start line, I was in a good mental space and felt confident in my abilities. I kept composure throughout the final race and was pleased to see myself break the national record once again. I think this is just a start and I want to reach greater heights in the near future.”
Another Odisha sprinter Srabani Nanda won a silver medal in the 4X100m women’s relay event. Indian team consisting of Srabani Nanda, Abhinaya Rajarajan, Sneha SS and Nithya Gandhe won the silver medal with a timing of 43.86 sec.
The gold and bronze medal was claimed by China and Thailand with a timing of 43.28 and 44.26 sec respectively.
Srabani Nanda said “I am happy with my medal, in the 2017 AAC at my home turf at Kalinga Stadium, our relay team won a bronze medal, but this time we won a silver medal."
