Kishore Jena settled for javelin silver medal by finishing second with a caree-best effort of 82.87 metres. Uttar Pradesh duo, Rohit Yadav and Shivpal Singh claimed the gold and bronze medal with performances of 83.28m and 81.96m respectively.

All three javelin medal winners in bettered the Asian Games qualifying mark of 78.23m. Vikrant Malik, another javelin thrower from Odisha, finished 11th with a throw of 66.82m. Among other Odisha athletes, Divya Shandilya finished 10th in women hammer throw, while Manisha Meral ended 10th in women long jump.

Punjab shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor hogged the limelight on the final day as he erased the Asian record with a throw of 21.77m. He was declared best male athlete and was successful in qualifying for the Budapest World Athletics Championship. Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh emerged as the best female athlete of the meet.

Tamil Nadu became overall as well as male team champions, while the female team title went to Uttar Pradesh. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Adille Sumariwal, Odisha Sports Department secretary R Vineel Krishna, AFI senior vice-president Anju Bobby George, treasure Dr Madhukant Pathak and Planning Committee chairman Lalit Bhanot graced the closing ceremony as guests.
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TOP: Odisha Olympian Srabani Nanda poses with her 200m gold medal in Bhubaneswar on 19 June 2023.
RIGHT: Javelin medal winners, including silver medallists Kishore Kumar Jena (Left), pose with guests in Bhubaneswar on 19 June 2023.