National records tumbled on the opening day of the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar as Anushka Yadav and Dev Meena produced standout performances to secure qualification for the 2026 Asian Games. The biggest headline came in the women’s hammer throw, where 18-year-old Anushka Yadav rewrote the national record books with a throw of 67.02m. The youngster first surpassed the Asian Games qualifying standard of 61.72m with an opening effort of 62.07m before improving to 65.64m and finally unleashing a record-breaking throw on her last attempt. Her mark eclipsed the previous national record of 65.25m set by Sarita Singh nine years ago, making Anushka the new national record holder and one of India’s brightest prospects in the event. In the men’s pole vault, Dev Meena added another chapter to his growing rivalry with fellow national record holder Kuldeep Kumar. Meena cleared 5.46m on his third attempt to better his own national record of 5.45m while also surpassing the Asian Games qualification mark. Multiple athletes secure Asian Games standards The day also witnessed several other notable performances. …