Odisha Shining In National Open Athletics: Bhoi Bags Golden Double, Srabani Leads Women’s Relay Team To Bronze

Bengaluru: Odisha sprinters are setting the track on fire at the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships being held at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here.

A day after Lalu Prasad Bhoi stunned a strong field to win the men’s 100m final, the 21-year-old athlete bagged his second gold when he played a key role in Odisha quartet’s 4 x 100m men’s relay triumph. Bhoi, along with Abinash Sahu, Animesh Kujur and Amiya Mallick won the final clocking 39.65 seconds. Railways (39.82) and SSCB 1 (39.99) followed Odisha to the finish line.

Olympian Srabani Nanda led the 4 x 100m women’s relay team to a bronze finish. Srabani, Sukhi Baske, Mary Hajya Soreng and Banita Behera managed a time of 45.93 as they finished behind Karnataka (45.21) and Railway (45.29).

Bhoi caught his more experienced rivals napping with a well-judged 100m dash to clock 10.46 seconds, thus emerging as the fastest man of the meet. Bhoi pushed national record-holder Manikanta of Services (10.48 secs) to second place, while Railways’ Siva B came in third in 10.50 seconds on Saturday. Experienced international sprinter Amlan Borgohain finished fourth in 10.51 seconds, while another fancied runner Gurindervir Singh of Services (10.55) was fifth.

The women’s 100m dash was a close contest.

Nithya Gandhe of Railways was the fastest female of the championships as she edged out Sneha SS of Karnataka in a photo finish in women’s 100m final.

Both sprinters clocked 11.57 seconds, while Giridharani of Railways was third at 11.64 seconds.