Odisha and Delhi sprinters rule roost at National Open Athletics Championships

Bengaluru, Aug 31 (PTI) National record holders Manikanta Hoblidhar and Tejas Shirse were beaten for gold in the 100m sprint and 110m hurdles respectively as young sprinters from Odisha and Delhi ruled the roost on the second day of the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships here on Saturday.
     Odisha’s 21-year-old sprinter Lalu Prasad Bhoi ran a well-judged 100m dash to outclass his more experienced runners and emerge as the fastest athlete of the meet. His winning time was 10.46 seconds.
     National record holder Manikanta of Services finished second at 10.48 seconds while Siva B of Railways took the third spot with 10.50 seconds.
     Railway’s experienced international sprinter Amlan Borgohain finished fourth with a time of 10.51 seconds, while another fancied sprinter Gurindervir Singh of Services was fifth with a time of 10.55 seconds.
     The women’s 100m dash was a close contest. Nithya Gandhe of Railways edged out Sneha SS of Karnataka in the photo finish.
     Both the sprinters had an identical time of 11.57 seconds. Giridharani of Railways was third at 11.64 seconds.
     The men’s 110m hurdles final also witnessed national record holder Shirse of Railways suffer his first defeat of the season as he finished second (14.01 seconds) behind Manav R of Railways who won the gold with a time of 13.86 seconds.
     It was heartbreak for another Delhi athlete Harmanjeet Singh as he crashed out of the men’s 110m hurdles final race with a fractured hand.
     In the men’s 400m race, Delhi’s 23-year-old Tushar Manna grabbed the opportunity to establish himself in the quarter-mile. His gold winning time was 45.97 seconds.
     Mohit Kumar of Services took the silver (46.13 seconds) while Vikrant Panchal of Railways Sports won bronze at 46.33 seconds.
     Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra pushed hard in the home straight to win the women’s 400m gold (53.77 seconds). Devyaniba Zala of Gujarat) took home silver (53.87 seconds) while Kunja Rajitha of Andhra Pradesh was third with 54.27 seconds.
     In the women’s javelin throw, seasoned athlete and Olympian Annu Rani comfortably won gold with a below-par effort of 58.97m.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)