From Silver to Gold? Animesh Kujur Eyes Revenge After Puripol Boonson’s Championship Record Masterclass

Sunday in Taipei did not go the way Animesh Kujur would have wanted if the goal was standing on the top step of the podium, but the 23-year-old from Jashpur left Taiwan with two things that matter a great deal heading into the rest of 2026 a silver medal and a Commonwealth Games qualifying time sitting next to his name on the results sheet.

What made the afternoon so fascinating was the man who beat him, because Puripol Boonson did not just win the 200m final at the New Taipei City Athletics Open, he ran 20.03 seconds on a day when the meet had been upgraded to World Athletics Continental Tour Silver level for the very first time, broke the championship record, and joined the short list of joint third-fastest Asian men ever recorded over the distance, all in one race on one Sunday afternoon in Taipei.

Kujur crossed the line in 20.47 seconds, his fourth fastest time ever, with Chinese Taipei's Ge Wuyanming third in 20.65 seconds, and that 20.47 cleared the Commonwealth Games 2026 qualifying mark of 20.61 seconds, which was the practical mission the Athletics Federation of India had sent him to Taipei to complete.

The Chhattisgarh-born sprinter, who trains at the Reliance Foundation Athletic High Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, set the Indian national record of 20.32 seconds in Gumi last year and in 2025 became the first Indian male sprinter in history to qualify for the World Athletics Championships, two facts that together paint the picture of an athlete who has been breaking new ground consistently and shows no signs of stopping.

Sportscape feels that Kujur's national record is 20.32 seconds and Boonson just ran 20.03 seconds that 0.29 second gap is what Indian athletics should be thinking about between now and Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, because a fully fit Kujur chasing Boonson down the back straight at a major championship is exactly the kind of race that reminds people why they fell in love with track and field in the first place, and for a country still waiting for its first genuine world-class 200m threat, this rivalry arriving right now feels like the start of something worth watching very closely.