Bhubaneswar: India’s Rohit Yadav saved the best for the last to win the men’s javelin title with a personal best effort while star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar lived up to his billings to take the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour silver-level meet in Bhubaneswar Saturday.
Rohit was trailing at the fourth spot at the end of the fourth round but moved to second behind Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yashvir Singh at the end of the fifth round. He then sent his spear to 87.68m, his personal best, to win the title and USD 1600 prize money.
Yashvir was second with his fifth round effort of 82.94m while Sumedha Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka was third with 80.29m.
The meet was India’s first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour silver event after successfully staging a bronze-level competition here last year. As many as 195 athletes from 17 countries took part in 2025. Following its success, World Athletics upgraded the Bhubaneswar event to silver level this year.
Top performers pocketed crucial world ranking points as well as cash prizes. The winners pocketed USD 1,600, second place finishers received USD 1,200 while third-place finishers earned USD 900. The sixth-place finishers got USD 300.
The 25-year-old Rohit was earlier the Indian season leader with his 87.05m effort while winning the gold at the National Inter-State Championships in June before Indian javelin superstar Neeraj Chopra’s 88.05m throw while finishing second at the Lausanne Diamond League on Friday.
With the win, his first major international title, Rohit also left behind his disappointing show at the Glasgow CWG where he had finished seventh with 81.56m.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver winner Sreeshankar, however, survived a scare though he won the men’s long jump title with 8.07m, which he recorded in his second and third efforts.
He seemed to a runaway winner as no other competitor could come near the 8m mark, before Divan Manuel of South Africa jumped 8.03m in his last effort.
Sreeshankar, who is among the top medal contenders among Indians in the Asian Games beginning next month, eventually won by a mere 4cm. He has a season best of 8.38m and personal best of 8.41m.
Another Indian P David was third with his last round jump of 7.78m.
Other top Indian long jumpers Shahnavaz Khan and Lokesh Sathyanathan did not start.
Long jumper Ancy Sojan returned to the venue where she broke legendary Anju Bobby George’s national record two months back to win the title with an impressive effort of 6.71m. Shaili Singh was second with 6.56m while Mubassina Mohammed ended third with 6.31m in a 1-2-3 finish for the Indians.
The best-placed overseas competitor was Danielle Nolte of South Africa who finished sixth with 6.05m.
Kenya’s Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver winner Diana Wanza won the women’s 5000m title with a personal best time of 15:16.11.
The women’s 400m also saw a top-three sweep by the Indians with just one overseas athlete — a Sri Lankan — competing. Vithya Ramraj took the top spot with a time of 51.96 seconds while Prachi (52.57m) and MR Poovamma (52.78m) were second and third respectively.
Veteran Indian and Asian Games medallist Annu Rani won a bronze in the women’s javelin throw with 56.96m. Jucilene Sales de Lima of Brazil won the title with 59.13m while Dilhani Lekamge of Sri Lanka was second with 58.98m.
It was a disappointment for the Indians in the 100m dash with Animesh Kujur and national record holder Gurindervir Singh finishing sixth and ninth respectively with times of 10.32 seconds and 10.39 seconds.
Tshepo Jason Tyantini of South Africa emerged the fastest man of the meet, clocking 10.11 seconds to win the men’s 100m event. Ali Al Balushi (10.16 seconds) of Oman and Dineth Induwara (10.27 seconds) of Sri Lanka were second and third respectively.
National record holder Jyothi Yarraji was pushed to the third spot in the women’s 100m hurdles, as she finished behind Charisma Taylor of Bahamas, a semifinalist at the 2024 Olympics, and Yumi Tanaka of Japan. Yarraji clocked 13.24 seconds, while Taylor and Tanaka crossed the finishing line in 12.96 seconds and 13.04 seconds respectively.
Yarraji has a season best of 12.85 seconds and a personal best of 12.78 seconds. She had beaten Tanaka while winning gold in the Asian Championships in 2025.
In the men’s shot put, Karanveer Singh pipped veteran Tajinderpal Singh Toor for the bronze with a throw of 20.06m, a mere 3cm ahead of the his senior compatriot.
Nigeria’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold winner Chukwuebuka Enekwe took the top spot with 20.78m while Italy’s Weir Zane was second with 20.47m.
Abinaya Rajarajan emerged the fastest woman of the meet with a time of 11.34 seconds in a 1-2-3 finish for Indians. Harita Bhadra (11.46 seconds) and Sneha Sathyanarayan (11.56 seconds) were second and third respectively.
Four foreign athletes — one each from Great Britain, South Africa, Philippines and Iraq — did not start.
National record holder Vishal TK did not start in the men’s 400m, the same for women’s high jump national record holder Pooja Singh.
PTI
