Host Odisha bagged two gold and three silver and one bronze medals on the opening day of the 1st National Indoor Athletics Championship, which is taking place at the Indoor Athletics Centre in Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar from today. Sarun Payasingh and Ommkar Prasad Nanda won the two gold medals in mens long jump and mens U-20 shot put respectively.
Sarun clinched the gold medal with a personal best of 7.80 metres. Ommkar claimed the yellow metal with a throw of 17.77 metres. Ommkar also breached the qualification mark for the Asian U-20 Athletics Championships 2026. Manisha Merel, Laxmipriya Kisan and Sabita Toppo secured one silver medal each, while Susmita Tigga claimed one bronze on the opening day of the two-day championship.
The best performance of the day was delivered by Baranica Elangovan, who broke the womens pole vault national record to win the gold medal, clearing a height of 4.22 metres. The 29-year-old athlete from Tamil Nadu bettered the previous national record of 4.21m, achieved by Rosy Meena Paulraj in 2022.