Kujur, Chithravel light up Federation Cup athletics

The sprinter clocks 200m national mark with 20.40s, while triple jumper Chithravel qualifies for World Athletics

- Shantanu Srivastava

NEW DELHI: After flirting with Amlan Borgohain's 200m national record of 20.52s for much of last season, Animesh Kujur finally ran the fastest half lap by an Indian on Thursday, in the process defending his crown at the ongoing National Federation Athletics Championship in Kochi and making the cut for this year's Asian Championships for which the qualifying mark stood at 20.53s.

Coming into the race as one of the primary challengers to the erstwhile national record set in the same competition three years back, the 21-year-old Kujur clocked an impressive 20.40s to finish ahead of Borgohain (20.80s) and Ragul Kumar (20.85s). This is also the first time in six attempts that Kujur has beaten Borgohain in a World-recognised meet.

The race ended up being the fastest 200m dash on Indian soil with four sprinters dipping under 21 seconds. Besides the three medallists, Karnataka's Manikanta Hoblidhar ran 20.91s at fourth.

Running in Lane 5, Kujur was steady off the blocks before accelerating at the bend. He opened a decisive lead in the home stretch and led the last 60m to take the title and the record. His now-familiar impersonation of Lightning Bolt duly followed.