Uttar Pradesh's 25-year-old javelin thrower Rishab Nehra joined the elite 80m club on the final day of the 64th National Open Athletics Championships at Birsa Munda Stadium, Ranchi.
His throw of 80.12m in the third attempt proved to be the winning mark as none of his rivals could cross the 80m barrier.
"The domestic javelin throw circuit is very competitive. I'm proud to have joined the 80m club today, said Nehra, who bettered his previous personal best of 77.38m set three years ago. Despite battling injuries earlier in the season and missing major events, Nehra's confidence and resilience helped him script a memorable triumph. "Now that I've achieved new heights this season, 2026 will be more exciting, added the UP Police athlete.
Pooja Dominates Women's 800m
Asian medallist
Pooja was a class apart in the women's 800m, comfortably clinching the gold medal in a strong two-lap finish. She was later adjudged the best female athlete of the meet. Meanwhile, Men's 100m champion Manikanta Hoblidhar of SSCB was declared the best male athlete.
Team Championships
As expected, SSCB bagged the men's team title with 152 points, while Railway Sports secured the women's crown with 175 points. Railways also topped the overall championships with 274 points.
Day Four Results
Men's Results
- 200m: Sandeep Singh (SSCB) 20.95s; Abhin Devadiga (Railways) 21.20s; Prasanna Kumar (Karnataka) 21.28s
- 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 (Railways) 30:27.83; Sawan Barwal (SSCB) 30:29.33
- 400m hurdles: Ruchit Mori (Gujarat) 50.47s; Karna Bag (Railways) 51.20s; Rakshith Naik (Karnataka) 51.29s
- 3000m steeplechase: Vikram Singh (SSCB) 8:38.91; Rohit Verma (SSCB) 8:39.69; Raj Kumar (SSCB) 8:44.66
- 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: Railway Sports 3:06.35 (meet record - previous 3:06.63 by SSCB, 2015); SSCB 3:06.81; Tamil Nadu 3:09.09
Women's Results
- 200m: Sakshi Chavan (Gujarat) 23.78s; Neeru Pathak (Uttar Pradesh) 23.87s; Simran Kaur (Punjab) 24.41s
- 800m: Pooja (Railways) 2:03.16; Lili Das (Railways) 2:04.15; Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 2:04.78
- 10,000m: Ravina Gayakwad (Maharashtra) 35:30.16; Basanti Kumari (Railways) 35:40.42; Soniya (Uttarakhand) 36:13.79
- 400m hurdles: Olimba Steffi (Railways) 58.93s; Neha Dhabale (Railways) 1:00.06; Deekshita R (Karnataka) 1:00.19
- 3000m steeplechase: Ankita (Railways) 10:01.74; Komal Jagadale (Railways) 10:14.34; Rebi Pal (Railways) 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 (Railways) 6.13m; Bhairabi Roy (Railways) 6.07m; Sherin A (Tamil Nadu) 6.07m
- Heptathlon: Anamika KA (Kerala) 5629 pts; Pooja (Railways) 5358 pts; Swapna Barman (Railways) 5260 pts
- 4x400m relay: Railways 3:39.28; Punjab 3:41.03; Karnataka 3:43.43
