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The Hindu
17-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Indian Grand Prix Series-2: Sneha upstages Vithya in women's 200m; Animesh completes sprint double
Kerala's K. Sneha clocked her personal best to upset international R. Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) in the women's 200m race while Animesh Kujur took home a double crown in the Indian Grand Prix series-2 at the LNCPE Athletics stadium. Sneha had never run under 24 seconds and her best effort till this race was 24.01s. The Kerala girl, who had won the bronze medal in 400m in Federation Cup recently, didn't have a good start. However, she pulled herself in front at about the 150 metre mark and motored past Vithya to clock 23. 59s to win gold. Vithya came second in 23.72s while Angel Silviam was third in 23.87s. Animesh Kujur (left) completed a double by winning men's 100m and 200m races effortlessly. He was hardly challenged in both races and won comfortably. | Photo Credit: NIRMAL HARINDRAN/THE HINDU Vithya didn't have any trouble winning her favoured 400m hurdles as she strode effortlessly to win gold in 57.45s. The women's 100m hurdles witnessed a close race in which Tamil Nadu's Nithya Ramraj pipped Odisha's Pragyan Prasanti to gold though both clocked identical 13.27s. Animesh Kujur completed a double by winning men's 100m and 200m races effortlessly. He was hardly challenged in both races and won comfortably. Rajesh Ramesh made a triumphant return from injury and showed no signs of rustiness as he blitzed the field to win the men's 400m race in 45.77s. After missing nearly a year due to injury, Ramesh dazzled in his comeback race, hitting the front after the first curve and widening the lead with confident strides to finish well ahead of Jay Kumar and Rince Joseph. The results Men: 100m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi) (10.31s), 2. Lalau Prasad Bhoi (Odi) (10.57), 3. Dondapati Mrutyamja (Odi) (10.57) 200m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi) (20.55), 2. T.K. Vishal (NCOE), 3. G. Ragul Kumar (TN) (21.10) 400m: 1. Rajesh Ramesh (TN) (45.77), 2. Jay Kumar (NCOE) (46.53), 3. Rince Joseph (Ker) (45.72) 800m: 1. Satyam Chauhan (Army) (1:51.87), 2. Harshdeep Singh (Army) (1:52.20), 3. Dayanidhi Munda (Odi) (1:52.80) 400m hurdles: 1. Subhas Das (JSW) (50.61), 2. Natarajan Kalainithi (NCOE) (51.51), 3. Akhil Babu (Ker) (56.99) Triple jump: 1. Vimal Mukesh (Navy) (15.83m), 2. Boby Sabu (Police) (15.56), 3. K.P. Naveen (NCOE) (15.44). Women: 100m: 1. Abhinaya Rajarajan (NCOE) (11.55s), 2. S.S. Sneha (Kar) (11.60), 3. Nithya Gandhe (Tel) (11.61 200m: 1. K. Sneha (Ker) (23.59), 2. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN) (23.72), 3. Angel Silviam (NCOE) (23.87) 400m: 1. Suba Venkatesan ( TN) (53.57), 2. Jisna Mathew (Ker) (53.78), 3. Soniya Baishya (Reliance) (54.22) 800m: 1. Laxmipriya Kisan (Odi) (2:09.10), 2. G.K. Vijayakumari (Kar) (2:09.58), 3. Priscilla Daniel (NCOE) (2:12.94) 100m hurdles: 1. Nithya Ramraj (TN) (13.27), 2. Pragyan Prasanti (Odi) (13.27), 3. Sabita Toppo (Odi) (14.20) 400m hurdles: 1. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN) (57. 45), 2. R. Anu (Ker) (58.41), 3. Deekshita (Kar) (1.00.50) Long jump: 1. Mubassina Mohammed (Lak) (6.17m), 3. S.N. Lakshanya (NCOE) (5.75) Javelin: 1. Runjun Pegu (Asm) (42.96m), 2. Pooja (Har) (41.47m).
The Hindu
17-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Sneha upsets Vithya Ramraj; double delight for Animesh
Kerala's K. Sneha clocked her personal best to upset international R. Vithya Ramraj (Tamil Nadu) in the women's 200m race in the Indian Grand Prix series-2 at the LNCPE Athletics Stadium on Saturday. Sneha had never run under 24s, and her best effort till this race was 24.01s. The Kerala girl, who had won the 400m bronze medal in the Federation Cup recently, didn't have a good start but pulled herself in front at about the 150 metre mark and motored past Vithya to clock 23. 59s. Vithya came second in 23.72s while Angel Silviam was third (23.87s). Vithya didn't have any trouble winning her favoured 400m hurdles as she strode effortlessly to clinch gold in 57.45s. The women's 100m hurdles witnessed a close race in which Tamil Nadu's Nithya Ramraj pipped Odisha's Pragyan Prasanti to gold, though both clocked identical 13.27s. Animesh hardly challenged Animesh Kujur (Odisha) completed a double by winning the men's 100m and 200m races effortlessly. Animesh was hardly challenged in both races. Rajesh Ramesh made a triumphant return from injury and showed no signs of rustiness as he blitzed the field to win the men's 400m race (45.77s). After missing nearly a year due to injury, Ramesh dazzled in his comeback race, hitting the front after the first curve and widening the lead with confident strides to finish well ahead of Jay Kumar and Rince Joseph. The results: Men: 100m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi) (10.31s), 2. Lalau Prasad Bhoi (Odi) (10.57), 3. Dondapati Mrutyamja (Odi) (10.57); 200m: 1. Animesh Kujur (Odi) (20.55), 2. T.K. Vishal (NCOE), 3. G. Ragul Kumar (TN) (21.10); 400m: 1. Rajesh Ramesh (TN) (45.77), 2. Jay Kumar (NCOE) (46.53), 3. Rince Joseph (Ker) (45.72); 800m: 1. Satyam Chauhan (Army) (1:51.87), 2. Harshdeep Singh (Army) (1:52.20), 3. Dayanidhi Munda (Odi) (1:52.80); 400m hurdles: 1. Subhas Das (JSW) (50.61), 2. Natarajan Kalainithi (NCOE) (51.51), 3. Akhil Babu (Ker) (56.99); Triple jump: 1. Vimal Mukesh (Navy) (15.83m), 2. Boby Sabu (Police) (15.56), 3. K.P. Naveen (NCOE) (15.44). Women: 100m: 1. Abhinaya Rajarajan (NCOE) (11.55s), 2. S.S. Sneha (Kar) (11.60), 3. Nithya Gandhe (Tel) (11.61); 200m: 1. K. Sneha (Ker) (23.59), 2. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN) (23.72), 3. Angel Silviam (NCOE) (23.87); 400m: 1. Suba Venkatesan (TN) (53.57), 2. Jisna Mathew (Ker) (53.78), 3. Soniya Baishya (Reliance) (54.22); 800m: 1. Laxmipriya Kisan (Odi) (2:09.10), 2. G.K. Vijayakumari (Kar) (2:09.58), 3. Priscilla Daniel (NCOE) (2:12.94); 100m hurdles: 1. Nithya Ramraj (TN) (13.27), 2. Pragyan Prasanti (Odi) (13.27), 3. Sabita Toppo (Odi) (14.20); 400m hurdles: 1. R. Vithya Ramraj (TN) (57. 45), 2. R. Anu (Ker) (58.41), 3. Deekshita (Kar) (1.00.50); Long jump: 1. Mubassina Mohammed (Lak) (6.17m), 3. S.N. Lakshanya (NCOE) (5.75); Javelin: 1. Runjun Pegu (Asm) (42.96m), 2. Pooja (Har) (41.47m).
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Vithya Ramraj dominates 400m hurdles, clocks second-fastest time in Asia this year
Kochi: and legendary athlete have one thing in common. The two hold the women's 400m hurdles record with a time of 55.42 seconds. On Wednesday at the Maharaja's College Stadium here in K o c h i , Vithya couldn't come anywhere close to that record but dominated the event from start to finish. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now She clocked 56.04 seconds to smash the meet record and grabbed the women's 400m hurdles gold on Day 3 of the 28th National Federation Senior Athletics Competition . She erased the mark set by Saritaben Gayakwad (57.21s) in the Patiala meet six years ago. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The victory also offered Vithya some consolation after being pushed to second place in the women's 400 by Uttar Pradesh's Rupa on Tuesday. Kerala's Anu R finished second with a time of 58.26 seconds, while Aswini R (1.02.41) of Tamil Nadu bagged the bronze. However, Vithya rued the lack of competition in the event. 'It was a good track and good conditions, but I didn't feel challenged. 'After a point, all my rivals were far behind, and I felt as if I was competing with myself. I could have improved the timing a bit more if there was better competition,' she said. Vithya's effort in Kochi is the second-fastest time in Asia this year, and if she can do an encore at the Asian Championship in South Korea next month, she can expect a podium finish. However, more than securing a medal at the Asian event, Vithya's primary target is to achieve a personal best, which would see her erasing Usha's 40-year-old record.
The Hindu
23-04-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
On the brink of breaking PT Usha's 41-year-old record, Vithya Ramraj looking well beyond
Although there were other participants, by the time she had cleared the first of the ten obstacles in the women's 400m hurdles race at the Federation Cup in Kochi on Wednesday, Vithya Ramraj knew she was essentially running by herself. 'It's difficult to push yourself in a competition in India. After the first hurdle, I already knew I was in front of everyone else. When that happens, I'm just competing with myself. I don't have anyone to chase, so I just focus on my own lane. I look to hit each hurdle as hard as possible. And when I'm between them, I only repeat the words 'speed' in my mind,' she says. If she is competing against herself, it could be argued that Vithya did, in a way, lose. She crossed the finish line in 56.04 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than her nearest opponent, but a little over half a second short of her personal best of 55.42. That mark, incidentally, is also the Indian national record, which Vithya jointly holds. She had clocked it in the heats of the Asian Games in Hangzhou to bring herself level on the Indian charts alongside PT Usha, who had run that same time at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. But although Vithya equalled it, it's now 41 years since Usha's mark has been bettered, making it the longest-standing record in women's athletics in India. READ: Driven up a pole at airports, rail stations, Dev Meena vaults unto new National Record at Federation Cup There's currently no one apart from Vithya who seems likely to break it. She's had her opportunities to do it. Her first chance was in the finals of the Asian Games, but she fell short, clocking a time of 55.68. She might have tried once again in 2024 but decided to focus on the flat 400 in the Olympic year to give herself the best shot of qualifying for the Paris Games, which she did in the women's 4x400m relay. Then, at the ongoing Federation Cup at the Maharaja College Stadium, she was running just a day after she had recorded a season's best performance in the 400m. 'I would probably have run a bit faster, but I had just run the 400m flat yesterday, so I was a little tight,' she admits. Could Vithya have skipped the 400m and just run the 400m hurdles? Yes, if the record set by Usha – who incidentally gives her name to the road where the Maharaja College Stadium is located in Kochi -- was on her mind. Record not the priority But Vithya says she isn't bothered about the record. 'It's not a big thing for me to get the national record. I'm looking beyond it now. There's nothing big about getting the national record when you see what the world level is. Right now, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won gold at the Olympics with a time of 50.65 (the Asian record stands at 53.09). That's so much faster,' she says. It isn't that Vithya was never fascinated with owning the record. Back in 2023, when she clocked a time of 55.43 at the Indian Grand Prix to finish just 0.01 seconds short of Usha's record, she had told Sportstar just how happy she had been coming as close as she had. 'When people see my name, it will be next to PT Usha ma'am,' she had said. Vithya says her mindset changed in the months after Asian Games where she equalled Usha's mark and finished with a bronze in the final. The daughter of a tempo driver in Coimbatore, Vithya was hoping for financial support that would allow her to pursue her athletics career at the level she wanted but ended up being disappointed. 'I got some support from the state government for winning a bronze but I didn't get any sponsorships or anything that I needed. I realised that whether I equalled Usha ma'am's record or not didn't matter. Whether I got an Asian Games medal or not didn't matter. Nothing will change unless I do something extraordinary at competitions like the World Championships or Diamond League,' says Vithya. Vithya Ramraj with her coach Nehpal Rathore. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement This feeling, she says, was reinforced in the run-up to the 2024 Olympics. Nehpal Rathore, who has coached her for the last five years, says that period was one of the hardest of her career. 'She earned that qualification spot because of her efforts. We didn't have any support or sponsorships. If anything, that qualification period reminded me that no matter what obstacles the two of us are up against, we can still find a way to win,' she says. Things are a little better now. Earlier this year, she started being sponsored by JSW Sports – something that's made her athletics journey a little easier. 'In the past, I faced a lot of financial problems. I couldn't go to any international competition. My twin sister (Nithya Ramraj, who runs the 100m hurdles) missed the Olympics simply because she didn't get the chance to compete in a foreign competition. Now I am able to travel for competitions. I don't have to worry about flight tickets or hotels. I have shoes being provided for me,' she says. ALSO READ: Federation Cup 2025: Pranav beats the odds, fancied field to win first national 100m gold With some of her issues addressed, Vithya says she's well placed to chase the goals she's set for herself, not the national record, but beyond it. 'I am not looking as far as Sydney's gold medal time, but I think a time of 53 seconds is achievable. But I don't use that time as a motivation. I have a lot of kutti (small) dreams that I will keep chasing one by one,' she says. Setting small goals These dreams aren't related to timings but to sharpened technique. Among her primary goals for this season is to improve her running efficiency. 'Until last year, I was running 16 strides between each hurdle for the first five hurdles. After that, as I got tired, I was running 18 and even 19 strides. I'm now trying to run 16 strides between hurdles for at least eight hurdles,' she says. She's not there yet. On Wednesday, she was able to maintain a 16-stride pattern for the first seven hurdles. 'I'm now trying to run 16 strides between hurdles for at least eight hurdles,' says Vithya Ramraj. | Photo Credit: RAGU R / The Hindu Perhaps one reason she couldn't maintain that pace for longer was because of the 400m race she had run yesterday. She had clocked a season's best time of 52.81 to finish second behind former junior world bronze medallist Rupal Choudhary. Vithya, though, doesn't regret the decision. 'I'm happy I got a season's best in the 400m. The faster I get in the 400m, the more confidence I have in the 400m hurdles. And the more lactic buildup I get used to when I run a fast 400m, the easier it is for me to tolerate the same stress when I run the hurdles,' she says. These are small wins she says will add up to create the kind of 'extraordinary' performance that she hopes to achieve. After her performances over the last couple of days, Vithya has qualified for the Asian Championships in both the 400m and the 400m hurdles but she's aiming for a bigger target. 'I am not thinking of a national record. I want to keep improving and making a season's best every time I run. I really want to go and compete at the World Championships. The qualification standard for that is 54.65. It's nearly one second faster than the national record but I think I can go even lower,' she says.
The Hindu
23-04-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Federation Cup 2025: Vithya Ramraj breaks women's 400m hurdles meet record; Niharika Vashisht clinches triple jump gold
Olympian Vithya Ramraj appears to be in National record-breaking form this season. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu broke the six-year-old women's 400m hurdles meet record at the 28th National Federation Athletics Championships here on Wednesday and predicted bigger things this year. 'I could have gone faster but I was tired after yesterday's 400m. Had we had the hurdles tomorrow, I'd have surely done 54s,' said Vithya who clocked 56.04s and finished more than two seconds ahead of silver medallist Anu Raghavan. Vithya equalled the great P.T. Usha's national record of 55.42s at the last Asian Games where she won the bronze. She felt the signs were good that the 41-year-old record would fall this year. 'I'm aiming for the Worlds and my goal is 54s. I had clocked 56s early this season, a sort of time I could only manage late last season. I'll surely end this year with 54,' said Vithya who also achieved the AFI's qualification standard for the Asians. Meanwhile Karnataka's P. Yashas clocked a personal best 49.32s while winning the men's 400m hurdles (49.32s) but was disappointed that he could not get the 49.19s for an Asian ticket. Niharika Vashisht of Panjabs took the women's Triple Jump gold. | Photo Credit: The Hindu In another corner of the Maharaja's Stadium, Punjab's National Games champion Niharika Vashisht – an Instagram hit with nearly 2.4 lakh followers for her beautiful posts – was celebrating a triple jump personal best (13.49m), a last-round effort that saw her beat Kerala's Sandra Babu by 1cm for the gold. The 29-year-old had completed a two-year doping suspension in February 2022 and now appears stronger than ever, improving her PB by more than 40cm in a year's time. The results (winners only): Men: 400m hurdles: P. Yashas (Kar) 49.32s. 3000m steeple chase: Sunil Joliya Jinabhai (Guj) 8:43.82s. Hammer throw: Damneet Singh (Reliance) 68.30m. Women: 400m hurdles: Vithya Ramraj (TN) 56.04s, MR, OR 57.21s, Saritaben Gayakwad, 2019. 3000m steeple chase: Manju Ajay Yadav (MP) 10:34.08. Triple jump: Niharika Vashisht (Pun) 13:49m. Shot put: Vidhi (UP) 16.10m.
