Sprinter Animesh Kujur says he won't repeat past mistakes at Asian Games

Sprinter Animesh Kujur won the 100m in 10.21 seconds and the 200m in 20.59 seconds at the Indian Athletics Series Final at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. National 100m record holder Gurindervir Singh was second in 10.32. It was the last domestic meet before the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Kujur goes in with a 10.14 personal best and the national 200m record of 20.32, saying he will not repeat mistakes made at the Asian Championships.

Written by AI from Times of India — Top · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 15 Sept 2026, 7:19 am IST

Source

Times of India — Top · read the original report ↗

#athletics#asian games#animesh kujur#sprinting#india

Desk check · compared with the source

What the desk checked (5)

Kujur won the 200m in 20.59s and the 100m in 10.21s at the Indian Athletics Series Final in Delhi. — Figures appear in the source as reported results; the article elsewhere quotes him referring to a 10.16 race, an internal inconsistency an editor should note.
Kujur holds a 100m personal best of 10.14 and the national 200m record of 20.32, set at the 2025 Asian Championships. — Stated in source without external citation; consistent throughout the article.
Gurindervir Singh holds the Indian 100m record at 10.09, set at the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May. — Attributed to the source's own reporting; no governing-body citation given.
Rivals listed include Japan's Shuhei Tada (10.01), Yuki Koike (10.06), Soshi Mizukubo (20.07) and Thailand's Puripol Boonson (20.03). — Figures appear in the source; described as season and personal bests, no official source named.
Quotes such as 'the mistakes I made in the Asian Championships, I won't make again' and 'now I think of running 9'. — Directly attributed to Kujur in an interview with TimesofIndia.com.

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Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 8 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

Animesh Kujur, India's fastest 200m runner, won both the 100m (10.21s) and 200m (20.59s) at the Indian Athletics Series Final at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the last domestic meet before the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. He goes in with a 100m personal best of 10.14 and the national 200m record of 20.32, set while winning bronze at the 2025 Asian Championships — his first outing officially representing India. Kujur says he will not repeat the mistakes of that campaign, when he raced under first-time international pressure, and that his ultimate target is the LA Olympics.

Key facts

At the Indian Athletics Series Final in Delhi, Kujur won the 100m in 10.21s and the 200m in 20.59s; it was the final domestic meet before the 2026 Asian Games.
Gurindervir Singh, India's 100m national record holder, finished second in the 100m in 10.32s.
Kujur's 100m personal best is 10.14, run in Wetzlar, Germany, in July — the second-fastest by an Indian and the fastest by an Indian outside the country.
Gurindervir Singh's national 100m record of 10.09 was set at the Federation Cup in Ranchi in May; Kujur had run 10.15 before that.
Kujur holds the national 200m record of 20.32, set at the 2025 Asian Championships, where he won bronze in the 200m.
He qualified for the Asian Games with 20.74 at the National Inter-State Championships, inside the qualification mark but outside his record.
Rival marks: Japan's Shuhei Tada 10.01 PB, Yuki Koike 10.06, Rikuto Higuchi 10.01; in the 200m, Japan's Soshi Mizukubo 20.07 and Thailand's Puripol Boonson 20.03 (national record).
Kujur's progression: around 20.5-20.6 through 2024, 20.40 at the Senior Federation Cup in 2025, then 20.32 at the Asian Championships.

Timeline

2024 seasonKujur spends an entire season running the 200m in the 20.5-20.6 range.
2025Runs 20.40 in the 200m at the Senior Federation Cup.
2025 (Asian Championships)Wins 200m bronze and sets the national record of 20.32 in his first outing officially representing India.
May (Federation Cup, Ranchi)Kujur runs 10.15 in the 100m; Gurindervir Singh reclaims the national record with 10.09.
July, Wetzlar, GermanyKujur runs 10.14, his personal best and the fastest 100m by an Indian abroad.
Earlier in 2026 seasonQualifies for the Asian Games with 20.74 at the National Inter-State Championships.
Last week (Delhi)Wins 100m (10.21) and 200m (20.59) at the Indian Athletics Series Final, the last domestic meet before the Games.
Upcoming2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan; Kujur entered in 100m, 200m and relay.

Who has a stake

Animesh Kujur — Seeking his first medal at a major multi-sport event, which he calls a potential "life-changing moment"; building towards the LA Olympics.
Gurindervir Singh — National 100m record holder at 10.09; his rivalry with Kujur is pushing Indian sprinting standards.
Athletics Federation of India — Ran the Indian Athletics Series Final as the last domestic meet before the Games and is part of Kujur's support system.
Kujur's coach (Martin Owens named in the story) — Instructed him not to chase the clock in Delhi, to stay injury-free and execute the bend; encourages experimenting in races before LA.
TOPS, Reliance, Odisha Government, Puma — Funders and backers of Kujur's training, performance and mental-health support.
Rival Asian sprinters (Japan's Tada, Koike, Higuchi, Mizukubo; Thailand's Boonson) — Faster season marks than the Indian pair, making the Aichi-Nagoya sprint fields tough.

Why it matters

Indian men's sprinting has historically lagged behind Asia's best, but the Kujur-Gurindervir rivalry has repeatedly rewritten the national 100m record within a single season and pushed Indian marks into the 10.09-10.15 band that is competitive in Asia. Whether that translates into an Asian Games medal against Japanese and Thai sprinters running 10.01 and 20.03 will show how far the gap has closed. Kujur's shift from chasing times to managing peaking, injury risk and pressure also reflects a maturing high-performance approach ahead of the LA Olympics.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

Animesh Kujur holds the Indian national 200m record of 20.32, set at the 2025 Asian Championships where he won bronze.
Gurindervir Singh holds the Indian national 100m record of 10.09, set at the Federation Cup in Ranchi.
Kujur's 10.14 in Wetzlar, Germany is the fastest 100m by an Indian outside India and the second-fastest overall.
The 2026 Asian Games are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) and the Athletics Federation of India are among Kujur's official backers.
Thailand's Puripol Boonson has a 200m national record of 20.03; Japan's Soshi Mizukubo has run 20.07 this season.

Mains framing

India's sudden depth in men's sprinting — two athletes inside 10.15 and a 200m record of 20.32 — is less an accident than the product of sustained competition, overseas racing and institutional backing (Reliance, Odisha Government, TOPS, AFI, Puma), all of which Kujur credits. Yet the Asian Games field exposes the remaining gap: Japanese and Thai sprinters have run 10.01 and 20.03 this season, and Kujur's own 2026 200m times (20.74 qualification mark, 20.59 in Delhi) sit well outside his record, underlining that peaking, not raw ability, is now the constraint. His stated learning — don't chase the clock every race, manage load, know when to peak, and treat pressure as a skill after a first international outing where it cost him — points to the way forward for Indian athletics: a calendar built around targeted peaking rather than record-hunting, more international exposure where mistakes are affordable, and rivalry-driven domestic competition, which Kujur notes is abundant in the 100m but thin in the 200m. The larger test is whether this ecosystem converts Asian-level credibility into multi-sport-event medals and, eventually, Olympic competitiveness at LA.

Key terms

Indian Athletics Series Final: Domestic athletics meet held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi — the last home competition before the 2026 Asian Games.
TOPS: Target Olympic Podium Scheme; government support programme for elite Indian athletes, named by Kujur among his backers.
Athletics Federation of India (AFI): National governing body for athletics in India, part of Kujur's support system.
Personal best (PB): An athlete's fastest recorded time in an event; Kujur's 100m PB is 10.14, run in Wetzlar, Germany.
Continental Tour: International athletics circuit on which Kujur has competed since the 2025 Asian Championships, alongside the World Championships.
Executing the curve/bend: Technique of running the curved section of a 200m race efficiently; Kujur's stated focus in the Delhi 200m.

Practice questions

Indian men's sprinting has seen rapid record turnover in recent seasons. Examine the factors behind this improvement and the gaps that remain relative to Asia's leading sprinters.
Discuss the role of institutional support systems such as TOPS, national federations and corporate sponsorship in producing internationally competitive Indian track athletes.
"Peaking, not talent, decides medals at multi-sport events." Critically evaluate this statement in the light of India's preparation for the 2026 Asian Games.

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

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