National Junior Athletics: Odisha’s Laxmi, Omkar & Pratik Strike Gold On Bumper Final Day In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Odisha athletes signed off in style on the final day of the 39th National Junior Athletics Championship at the Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday.

The local athletes grabbed three gold medals and a bronze.

Omkar Prasad Nanda captured gold medal in U-18 Men’s Shot Put with a winning throw of 19.96 metres. Haryana’s Nishchay took silver (18.78 metres) and UP’s Akhand Pratap Singh bagged bronze (18.47).

Odisha’s Laxmi Priya Kisan topped the U-20 Women’s 800m in a time of 2 mins 14.44 seconds, leaving Karnataka’s Vaishnavi Rawal (silver in 2:15.10) and UP’s Vinita Gurjar (bronze in 2:15.10) in her wake.

Sprinter Pratik Maharana gave Odisha another gold, covering 200 metres in Men’s U-18 category in 21.28 seconds. Gajendra Singh of Rajasthan (21.78) and Karnataka’s Sayed Sabeer (21.93) came in second and third, respectively.

A fourth medal came Odisha’s way when P Arpita Archana claimed bronze in the Women’s U-20 Javelin with a throw of 45.14m.