Ankita took off almost four seconds for a new meet record in the women’s 3000m steeplechase on the fourth and final day at the 65th National Open Athletics Championships, one of the two new meet records set at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Ankita, representing Railways Sports Promotion Board, clocked 9:34.86 to better Lalita Babar’s 11-year-old record set in 2015. On the men’s side, All India Police Sports Control Board’s Jishnu Prasad P.K. ran a personal best timing of 20.62 seconds to win the 200m ahead of Abhin Devadiga.
While there were only two meet records, there were plenty of athletes setting new personal best timings and distances across track and field.
The talented 21-year-old Mogali Venkatram Reddy, the 2025 junior National champion, added the senior title to his belt in the men’s 800m, completing in a personal best time of 1:47.01 for a new meet record even as reigning National record holder Mohd. Afsal pulled out midway.
Gujarat’s Murad Sirman, representing Services, broke the 50-seconds barrier for the first time ever, clocking 49.86s in the 400m hurdles.
In the morning session, Sandeep Kumar won the marathon race walk while Ramandeep Kaur took the top spot among the women in a race that had only five entries — with two did not completing the race, leaving the only three competitors to finish to be the medallists.
The results (Day 4): Men: 200m: 1. Jishnu Prasad PK (AIPSCB, 20.62s), 2. Abhin Devadiga (RSPB, 20.91s), 3. Adesh Garsa (Raj, 20.96s); 800m: 1. Mogali Venkatram Reddy (AP, 1:47.01), 2. Aman Kumar (SSCB, 1:47.33), 3. Anant Gautam (Del, 1:48.03); 400m hurdles: 1. Murad Sirman (SSCB, 49.86s), 2. Shakti Singh (SSCB, 50.13s), 3. Aryan Kashyap (Kar, 50.38s); 3000m Steeplechase: 1. Sharukh Khan (RSPB, 8:30.54), 2. Price Raj Mishra (RSPB, 8:31.38), 3. Sumit Rathee (ONGC, 8:36.17); 4x400m relay: 1. RSPB (3:06.36), 2. SSCB (3:06.59), 3. Tamil Nadu (3:08.29); Marathon race walk:1. Sadeep Kumar (Har, 3:19.52), 2. Vishvendra Singh (MP, 3:21.11), 3. Resham Midhun (SSCB, 3:22.46); Long Jump: 1. Mohd. Sazid (7.99m), 2. Sarun Payasingh (Odi, 7.79m), 3. Sunny (Bih, 7.65m); Javelin: 1. Aditya (Har, 79.40m), 2. Anand Singh (SSCB, 77.77m), 3. Arshdeep Singh (RSPB, 77.56m).
Women: 200m: 1. Priyanka Sikarwar (AIPSCB, 23.68s), 2. Parthipa Selvaraj (TN, 24.09s), 3. Samriti Jamwal (HP, 24.14s); 800m: 1. Lili Das (RSPB, 2:05.37), 2. Kavitha V (TN, 2:05,58), 3. Thota Sankeertana (Chg, 2:05.70); 400m hurdles: 1. Sinchal (RSPB, 58.40s), 2. Harshita R (TN, 59.51s), 3. Deekshita Gowda (Kar, 59.57s); 3000m steeplechase: 1. Ankita (RSPB, 9:34.86), 2. Vandana Mori (Guj, 10:00.02), 3. Komal Jagdale (RSPB, 10:05.34); 4x400m relay: 1. RSPB (3:38.40), 2. Haryana (3:40.29), 3. Tamil Nadu (3:43.99); Marathon race walk: 1. Ramandeep Kaur (RSPB, 3:59.23), 2. Sonal Sukhwal (Raj, 4:16.06), 3. Deepika Sharma (Raj, 4:22.55); High jump: 1. Reet Rathore (UP, 1.78m), 2. Abhinaya Shetty (Kar, 1.73m), 3. Pallavi Patil (Kar), Manshi (RSPB), Kevina Annavi (TN) all 1.73m; Heptathlon: 1. Pooja (RSPB, 5468 pts), 2. Anamika K.A. (RSPB, 5334 pts), 3. Mubassina Mohd. (ONGC, 5265 pts).
Published – October 11, 2026 09:36 pm IST
