Ranchi: It was a dazzling Friday evening for Indian athletics as ace sprinters Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh scorched the track here at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
Running in the first heat of the men’s 100m event, former national record-holder Gurindervir clocked a brilliant 10.17 seconds to better the previous mark of 10.18 set by Kujur in Greece last year.
But within five minutes, Gurindervir was no more the record holder as Odisha ace Kujur reclaimed it with a blazing 10.15 seconds.
Kujur thus qualified for the upcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games (July 23 to August 2), while Gurindervir missed the cut-off mark of 10.16s by 0.01s.
Gurindervir will have another chance on Saturday when the two face off in the 100 final.
It was a great show by Kujur as his pet event is 200m.
“I know it is going to be tough as the qualification mark for 100m is high… my focus is on 200m which is my pet event,” Kujur had said a day earlier.
Both sprinters train under James Hillier of Reliance Foundation, and have been pushing each other over the last one year.
In March 2025, Gurindervir clocked 10.20s at the Indian GP in Bengaluru to lower Manikanta Hoblidhar’s previous national record of 10.23s. Kujur equalled it with 10.20s and then went to better it with a 10.18s run in Greece in July.
