Tamil Nadu’s Rajesh Ramesh stormed to victory in the men’s 400m, while Animesh Kujur swept the men’s 100m and 200m race at the Indian Grand Prix 2 athletics meet held at the LNCPE Athletics Stadium in Trivandrum on Saturday.
Returning from an injury, Ramesh started the year with a brilliant time of 45.77s to win the 400m title. He also became the first Indian to dip below 46s this season.
Jay Kumar (46.53) and Rince Joseph (46.72s) were some prominent runners in the men’s 400m event.
In the men’s 100m, Animesh Kujur stopped the clock at 10.31 seconds to finish on top. Odisha’s Animesh was among the few elite names in the line up as most of the prominent names decided to skip the event owing to their packed schedule.
The Indian team will be heading to the Asian Athletics Championship scheduled to take place in Gumi, Republic of Korea later this month.
Odisha’s Lalu Prasad Bhoi clocked 10.57 seconds and Dondapati Mrutyam finished with a time of 10.57 seconds.
Animesh later dominated the men’s 200m with a time of 20.55s.
Vithya Ramraj gears up for Asian C’ship
In the women’s section, Tamil Nadu’s R Vithya Ramraj topped the 400m hurdles with a time of 57.45s.
Kerala’s Anu R finished with 58.41seconds.
Vithya will be in action at the Asian Championship in Gumi in both 400m and 400m hurdles. However, on Saturday, she ran the 200m and finished behind Kerala’s Sneha K, clocking 23.72s. Sneha clocked 23.59s.
In 400m race, Subha Venkatesan (53.57), Jisna Mathew (53.78) and Gowri Nandana (54.34) were some familiar faces.
In women’s 100m hurdles, Nithya Ramraj clocked 13.27s (13.261), Odisha’s Pragyan Prasanti 13.27s (13.268) and Sabita Toppo crossed the finish line in 14.20 seconds.
Some events like the women’s 800m, javelin throw and long jump events had minimal participation.