BHUBANESWAR: Javelin thrower Rohit Yadav created a meet record and bagged the gold with a throw of 87.05m at the 65th National Athletics Inter State Senior Athletics Championships here at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday. With the throw, which was also his personal best, the Uttar Pradesh athlete breached the Asian Games qualification mark of 77.87m.
More importantly the throw, which came in his last attempt, also made Yadav the third best in the country behind former Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena. Chopra breached the 90m mark (90.23m) in the 2025 Doha Diamond League while Jena's effort of 87.54m came in the 2022 Asian Games, which was held a year later due to the covid pandemic. Yadav's effort is also the second best throw of the season internationally so far with Sri Lankan Rumesh Tharanga leading the chart with a throw of 92.62m.
Speaking on his achievement, Yadav said, "Top two throwers will represent the country in the upcoming Asian Games. I have crossed Neeraj Chopra’s record this year but he is altogether a different level of athlete. It's better not to make any comparison with him.” Notably, Chopra returned to action after nine months at the Doha Diamond League earlier this month and finished fourth with his best throw of 85.69m.
Yadav was trailing behind his immediate rivals Yashvir Singh and Sachin Yadav, who had already thrown above 80m mark in their respective penultimate attempts and had to produce something extraordinary in his last attempt. And he made it special by surpassing his personal mark of 83.76m achieved earlier this month in Ludhiana. Yashvir (83.72m) and Sachin (82.32m) finished second and third respectively.
"I didn't start well (77.71, 77,63, F, 77.51, 79.40, 87.05m), while Yashvir and Sachin did well and crossed the 80m mark. Before my last throw, I became relaxed and convinced myself that I can do it and the result was different. Had my first throw been 80 plus, I could have achieved a big milestone today,” Yadav said.
Speaking on his preparations, he said, “My growth has been very slow and steady. In the year 2022 and 2023, I remained in 82m and 83m brackets respectively. The next year, I struggled with the injury and made a comeback with my personal best throw. Now my focus will be on the Commonwealth and Asian Games. Hopefully I will make a podium finish.”
Gold for Sreeshankar
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar won the long jump gold with a leap of 8.38m. He also breached the Asiad qualification mark of 7.91m with his effort on Sunday. Kalinga Stadium has always been a lucky venue for the Kerala athlete, who created the meet record with a jump of 8.41m here in 2023. Shahnavaz Khan (8.30m) and David P stood second and third respectively in the event.