The South Asian Athletics Championships (SAAC) 2025, held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, marked a defining moment for Indian athletics.
Returning after a 17-year hiatus, the meet reestablished India’s supremacy in the region, while simultaneously exposing the structural and performance gaps that need addressing ahead of the 2026 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games cycles. India topped the medal tally with 20 gold, 20 silver, and 18 bronze medals 58 in total far ahead of second-placed Sri Lanka’s 16 gold and 40 overall medals. Beyond the medal count, the three-day meet from October 24–26 at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium served as a crucial performance audit for India’s post-Paris 2024 athletics strategy, centered on decentralizing national camps and introducing advanced athlete monitoring systems.
The championship was notable for a series of Meet Records (MRs) set by Indian athletes, especially in middle-distance and hurdles areas that have long been considered India’s developmental priorities.
Sanjana Singh, the 18-year-old distance prodigy from Uttar Pradesh, stole the show with double golds in the 1500m and 5000m, the latter coming in a new meet record of 15:38.70s, eclipsing a mark that had stood since 2008. Her performance, nearly 30 seconds faster than the previous best, underlined India’s growing strength in women’s distance running. Sanjana’s time, however, remains 28 seconds off Parul Chaudhary’s national record (15:10.35s), a reminder of the progress still needed for continental competitiveness.
The teenager’s aerobic efficiency, coupled with her versatility across distances, positions her as a long-term prospect for the AFI’s high-performance group. For the next phase, her training emphasis must shift toward high-altitude endurance work and international pacing exposure, ensuring she can breach the 15:30 mark and approach Asian medal standards.
In the men’s hurdles, India’s technical evolution was on full display. R Manav, competing in his first international meet, clocked 13.78s in the 110m hurdles, smashing a 27-year-old meet record. His time, just 0.37 seconds off Tejas Shirse’s national record, signals a narrowing gap between domestic and elite Asian standards. Manav’s progression now depends on technical refinements smoother hurdle clearances, rhythm optimization, and biomechanical efficiency.
Similarly, Ruchit Mori clinched gold in the 400m hurdles, setting another meet record with 50.10s. While his time remains 1.30 seconds shy of the Indian record (48.80s), the result confirms India’s growing depth in this demanding event. Mori’s next target is the sub-50s barrier a physiological challenge requiring improved speed endurance and anaerobic conditioning to withstand the late-race fatigue typical of the event.
Neeru Pathak and Mohammed Ashfaq: Relay Reliability and Speed Resilience
Among the multi-event performers, Neeru Pathak emerged as one of India’s most versatile athletes. The 19-year-old captured three gold medals in the 400m, women’s 4x400m relay, and mixed 4x400m relay alongside a bronze in the 200m. Her winning time of 53.15s in the 400m underscored her consistency, though still 2.36 seconds off the national record.
Pathak’s capacity to maintain performance across multiple rounds and relays highlights her durability a vital trait for India’s 2026 Asian Games relay ambitions. Her development focus must now shift toward enhancing 200m speed to improve acceleration phases, targeting sub-23.5s timings that can help her close the 400m stronger and contribute even more effectively in relay finals. In the men’s quarter-mile, Mohammed Ashfaq clocked 46.56s to win silver behind Sri Lanka’s Hewa Kumarage (46.21s). While short of Vishal T.K.’s national record (45.12s), Ashfaq’s consistency reinforces India’s relay pool depth.
His inclusion in the mixed relay gold-winning team reflects the AFI’s broader emphasis on relay continuity, ensuring a reliable second-tier of runners who can perform at mid-46-second levels regularly. While India’s track results were emphatic, the field events, particularly the javelin, revealed areas of concern. Karishma Sanil, India’s women’s javelin throw silver medallist, recorded a season’s best of around 55.55m, falling significantly short of the Sri Lankan winner Nadeeka Hatarabage’s meet record 60.14m.
This new benchmark redefines the regional standard, pushing the 60m mark as the minimum threshold for competitiveness. With Annu Rani’s national record standing at 63.82m, Sanil’s gap of over 8 meters underscores the need for a structured power development and technical enhancement program.
Achieving 60m consistency will require greater emphasis on explosive strength training, rotational mechanics, and exposure to international-level competition, where such distances are routine. Sri Lanka’s performances in the 4x100m relays and men’s javelin further reinforced their regional supremacy in high-velocity and power-based events. Notably, Pathirage Rumes’s 84.29m throw in the men’s javelin including three throws beyond 81m would rank among the top Asian performances this year. India’s Uttam Patil, finishing third with 76.30m, illustrates the widening gap India faces in power events despite dominance elsewhere.
The high number of new meet records at SAAC 2025 created an impression of rapid progress. However, experts within the AFI caution against overestimating these results, given that many of the previous records were outdated by over a decade. The true evaluation, therefore, lies in how these performances compare with national and Asian benchmarks. For example, while Sanjana Singh’s 15:38.70s is a new regional mark, it would barely make the top-10 at the last Asian Championships. Similarly, Mori’s 50.10s in the 400m hurdles, though a record regionally, still leaves him outside Asian medal contention.
Thus, the strategic focus for AFI must transition from dominating South Asia a goal already achieved to systematically closing the performance gap between India’s best and the continental elite. This requires year-round exposure to high-caliber meets in Europe and Asia, alongside data-driven biomechanical analysis and periodized training systems tailored to each athlete’s event-specific needs.
The Monsoon Leap: Mubassima Mohammed and the Awakening of Lakshadweep Athletics
The South Asian Athletics Championships 2025 validated the effectiveness of India’s revamped training model. Emerging names like Sanjana Singh, R Manav, Ruchit Mori, and Neeru Pathak demonstrated that India’s talent identification and development pathways are bearing fruit. However, the broader takeaway extends beyond medals.
The championship underlined a dual reality India has outgrown the regional level but is still chasing continental excellence. The challenge now lies in turning meet records into medal-winning times at the Asian stage. As the countdown to the 2026 Asian Games begins, India’s athletics ecosystem must maintain this momentum, ensuring that the promise of Ranchi transforms into podium potential in Aichi-Nagoya.
