National Open Athletics Championships: Manikanta Hoblidhar makes a bold statement, clocks 10.19s for 100m gold

Ranchi, Sep 28: Manikanta Hoblidhar (SSCB) produced a blistering run at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Stadium (Morabadi) on Sunday (September 28), winning the men's 100m in a meet-best 10.19 seconds. The 24-year-old

Army sprinter bettered his own meet record of 10.23 (set in 2023, Bengaluru) and raised the bar in a highly competitive sprint field.

Hoblidhar rocketed off the blocks and powered down the straight to the finish line, throwing his arms up in celebration as he crossed. His 10.19 is both a season-best and a personal best for the year, and came just one hundredth shy of Animesh Kujur's national record of 10.18s.

"I was confident of improving my personal best today," Hoblidhar said after the race. "I had the strength and energy to further raise the bar in the 100m dash but just fell short. "

Maharashtra's Pranav Gurav (24) took silver in 10.31s, while SSCB's 21-year-old Harsh Raut claimed bronze in 10.38s.

On the women's side, Sneha SS (Karnataka) won the 100m in 11.62 seconds. "I wanted to win - I'm happy to have won gold in the season-ending competition," Sneha said. The race was tightly contested: Sudeshna Shivankar (Maharashtra) was second in 11.64s and Abinaya Rajarajan (Tamil Nadu), hampered by a groin issue, finished third in 11.67s.

Other highlights from day two included a strong comeback win by Olympian Rajesh Ramesh in the men's 400m (45.75s - season best), while Neeru Pathak (Uttar Pradesh) topped the women's 400m in 52.85s. Tamil Nadu's Gobika K - winner of the women's high jump (1.79m) - suffered a right-knee injury on her last attempt and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Below are the official day-two results as reported.

Day Two - Men (Top 3)

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
100m	Manikanta Hoblidhar (SSCB) - 10.19 s (meet record)	Pranav Gurav (Maharashtra) - 10.31 s	Harsh Raut (SSCB) - 10.38 s
400m	Rajesh Ramesh (Railway Sports) - 45.75 s	Santhosh T (SSCB) - 46.05 s	Rashid (Madhya Pradesh) - 46.23 s
1500m	Sunil Dawar (SSCB) - 3:46.27	Arjun Waskale (Madhya Pradesh) - 3:46.70	Ritesh Ohre (Railway Sports) - 3:47.39
110m Hurdles	Manav R (Railway Sports) - 13.97 s	Krishik M (Karnataka) - 14.02 s	Dhanush Adithan G (Tamil Nadu) - 14.39 s
Discus Throw	Kirpal Singh (ONGC) - 56.33 m	Nirbhay Singh (Haryana) - 54.95 m	Dharamraj Yadav (SSCB) - 54.89 m
Decathlon	Usaid (SSCB) - 7,212 pts	Kushal Mohite (Maharashtra) - 7,102 pts	Stalin Jones (SSCB) - 7,090 pts

Day Two - Women (Top 3)

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
100m	Sneha SS (Karnataka) - 11.62 s	Sudeshna Shivankar (Maharashtra) - 11.64 s	Abinaya Rajarajan (Tamil Nadu) - 11.67 s
400m	Neeru Pathak (Uttar Pradesh) - 52.85 s	Olimba Steffi (Railway Sports) - 53.75 s	Priya Mohan (Karnataka) - 54.04 s
1500m	Lili Das (Railway Sports) - 4:15.59	Sanjana Singh (Haryana) - 4:15.89	Kajal Kanwade (Gujarat) - 4:17.97
100m Hurdles	Nandhini K (Tamil Nadu) - 13.57 s	Moumita Mondal (Railway Sports) - 13.84 s	Shreeya Rajesh (Karnataka) - 13.91 s
High Jump	Gobika K (Tamil Nadu) - 1.79 m*	Supriya B (Railway Sports) - 1.73 m	Reet Rathor (Uttar Pradesh) - 1.73 m
Shot Put	Yogita (Railway Sports) - 16.52 m	Shiksha (Haryana) - 15.92 m	Vidhi (Railway Sports) - 15.18 m
Mixed 4x400m Relay	Uttar Pradesh - 3:23.62	Punjab - 3:24.78	Tamil Nadu - 3:25.46

*Gobika K suffered a right-knee injury on her final jump and was taken to hospital.