Ranchi, Sep 30 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh’s 25-year-old javelin thrower Rishab Nehra stole the spotlight as he joined the 80m club while winning gold on the final day of the 64th National Open Athletics Championships here on Tuesday.
Nehra sent the spear to a distance of 80.12m in his third attempt which turned out to be a winning throw of the day.
“The domestic javelin throw in the men’s group is very competitive. I’m proud to have joined the 80m club today,” Nehra said of achieving his personal best.
Nehra’s previous best was 77.38m achieved three years ago.
It was a topsy-turvy season for Nehra as he battled a niggle and skipped major domestic events. However, armed with self-belief, he was able to conquer a new boundary in Ranchi.
“Joining the 80m club
has given a big boost to my confidence. Now that I’ve achieved new heights this season, 2026 will be more exciting,” he added.
Away from the throwing arena, Asian medallist Pooja was a cut above the rest in the women’s 800m event. She was a comfortable winner in the two-lap race.
Men’s 100m champion Manikanta Hoblidhar of Services and Railways’ 800m gold medallist Pooja were declared best male and female athletes respectively.
As expected, Services claimed the men’s team trophy with 152 points while Railways collected 175 points to take home the women’s team trophy.
Railways also won the overall team championships with 274 points.
Results: Men: 200m: Sandeep Singh (SSCB) 20.95 seconds, Abhin Devadiga (Railway Sports) 21.20 seconds, Prasanna Kumar (Karnataka) 21.28 seconds.
800m: Prakash Gadade (SSCB) 1:50.01, Satyajeet Pujari (Maharashtra) 1:50.34, Basant Chauhan (Chandigarh) 1:50.48.
10,000m: Prince Kumar (All India Police) 30:25.15, Abhishek Pal (Railway Sports) 30:27.83, Sawan Barwal (SSCB) 30:29.33.
400m hurdles: Ruchit Mori (Gujarat) 50.47 seconds, Karna Bag (Railway Sports) 51.20 secs, Rakshith Naik (Karnataka) 51.29 secs.
3,000m steeplechase: Vikram Singh (SSCB) 8:38.91 seconds, Rohit Verma (SSCB) 8:39.69 secs, Raj Kumar (SSCB) 8:44.66 secs.
Triple jump: Dinesh V (Tamil Nadu) 16.27m, Sebastian VS (SSCB) 16.25m, Karthik U (SSCB) 16.07m.
Javelin throw: Rishab Nehra (Uttar Pradesh) 80.12m, Uttam Patil (SSCB) 78.01m, Shivam Lohakare (SSCB) 77.98m.
4x400m relay: Railways 3:06.35 (meet record, previous 3:06.63 by SSCB in 2015), SSCB 3:06.81, Tamil Nadu 3:09.09.
Women: 200m: Sakshi Chavan (Gujarat) 23.78 seconds, Neeru Pathak (Uttar Pradesh) 23.87 seconds, Simran Kaur (Punjab) 24.41 seconds.
800m: Pooja (Railway Sports) 2:03.16 seconds, Lili Das (Railway Sports) 2:04.15, Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 2:04.78.
10,000m: Ravina Gayakwad (Maharashtra) 35:30.16, Basanti Kumari (Railway Sports) 35:40.42, Soniya (Uttarakhand) 36:13.79.
400m hurdles: Olimba Steffi (Railway Sports) 58.93 seconds, Neha Dhabale (Railway Sports) 1:00.06 secs, Deekshita R (Karnataka) 1:00.19 secs.
3,000m steeplechase: Ankita (Railway Sports) 10:01.74, Komal Jagadale (Railway Sports) 10:14.34, Rebi Pal (Railway Sports) 10:37.26.
Hammer throw: Tanya Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh) 60.83m, Divya Shandilya (Odisha) 57.92m, Manpreet Kaur (Punjab) 56.52m.
Long jump: Bhavani Yadav (Railway Sports) 6.13m, Bhairabi Roy (Railway Sports) 6.07m, Sherin A (Tamil Nadu) 6.07m.
Heptathlon: Anamika KA (Kerala) 5629 points, Pooja (Railway Sports) 5358 points, Swapna Barman (Railway Sports) 5260 points.
4x400m relay: Railway Sports 3:39.28 seconds, Punjab 3:41.03 secs, Karnataka 3:43.43 secs. PTI PDS AM PDS AM AM
