SAAF Junior Championships: Odisha’s Sabita Toppo Bags Silver

Bhubaneswar: Promising Odisha athlete Sabita Toppo did Odisha and India proud by claiming silver medal in women’s 100m hurdles at the 4th South Asian Athletics Federation Junior Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.

The 19-year-old sprinter clocked 13.96 seconds to finish behind gold-winner and fellow-Indian Unnathi Aiyappa (13.93 seconds) with new meet record,. Sri Lanka’s Miyuni Sidasna was a distant third in 15.32.

On Wednesday, Odisha athletes won a silver and bronze each.

This was the third junior international medal for 19-year-old Sabita, who hails from Sundargarh district and trains at Odisha-Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. She won her first two junior international medals (gold in medley relay and silver in 100m hurdles) at the 4th Asian Youth Athletics Championship 2022 in Kuwait. She was the winner of the Biju Patnaik Sports Award as best upcoming athlete in 2023.

Sabita is the third athlete from Odisha to win a medal at the ongoing SAFF Junior Athletics Championship. Laxmi Priya Kisan bagged one silver in junior women 800m run and Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram secured one bronze in junior men 100m sprint earlier on the opening day.