Inter-State Championships Key For Reliance Foundation Athletes’ Asian Games Push

Last Updated:June 23, 2026, 16:31 IST

Reliance Foundation athletes chase Asian Games spots at the 65th National Inter State Championships in Bhubaneshwar.

A total of over 50 athletes supported by the Reliance Foundation will look to seal a spot at the Asian Games later this year in Japan when they compete at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at the state-of-the-art Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, between June 24 and 28.

Speaking about the contingent, James Hillier, Athletics Director at Reliance Foundation, said, “The Inter State Championships double up as a qualification for the Asian Games and a number of our athletes have already breached the qualification standard for the Asian Games. Those athletes will be focused on finishing in the top two and sealing their spot in the Indian team for the Asian Games. We are hoping for some personal bests and season bests as we have trained in a manner that allows most of our athletes to peak at this competition.

“We have a couple of very exciting young sprinters in Abhay Singh, Harita Bhadra and Unnathi Ayyapa, who have an outside chance of making a push for the Asian Games. The men’s 110m hurdles event will be one to watch out for with Tejas Shirse, who’s fresh off a national record of 13.27s, being pushed by his training partner Krishik Manjunath. A 1-2 finish here will see them board the plane to Japan. In the men’s 400m hurdles event, Yashas has the potential to push for the national record which stands at 48.80s currently. He is definitely one to watch very closely."

Ideal preparation for Commonwealth Games

The competition will see a host of Commonwealth Games-bound athletes in action, including the likes of Animesh Kujur, Tejas Shirse, Yashas Palaksha and Murali Sreeshankar.

Jyothi Yarraji’s much-awaited return

The competition will mark the much-awaited return to track of India’s hurdles star Jyothi Yarraji as well, who will be competing in her first tournament in 2026 after returning from a serious ACL injury that saw her out of action for over a year.

Jyothi would be setting her sights on qualifying for the Asian Games again in the 100m hurdles and 200m events. Also making a return to action will be long jump national record holder Jeswin Aldrin, who will jostle with Sreeshankar for a top-of-the-podium finish.

Animesh Kujur on home ground

In the absence of national record holder Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur will start as the favourite on home territory and look at a 100-200 double.

The other Reliance Foundation athletes who would be pushing for Asian Games qualification include Ancy Sojan (women’s long jump), Seema (women’s 5000m and 10000m), Damneet Singh (men’s hammer throw), Harshita Sehrawat (women’s hammer throw), Mohammed Afsal P (men’s 800m) and Krishna Jayasankar Menon (women’s shot put).

Reliance Foundation-supported athletes have been in magnificent form in 2026, with all of Gurindervir Singh, Sawan Barwal, Tejas Shirse, Tejaswin Shankar and Animesh Kujur setting national records this year.

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