Bhubaneswar: Odisha sprinter Dondapati Jayaram scorched the track at the Kalinga Stadium in front of his home crowd here on Sunday evening.
The 19-year-old sprinter won the men’s Under-20 100m gold in the 39th National Junior Athletics Championship in a time of 10.5 seconds. What made his triumph doubly memorable was the fact that it was a personal best for Jayaram, who was part of the Indian 4x100m relay teams that won bronze medals in the Asian U-20 Championships in both 2023 and 2024.
NATIONAL JUNIOR ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024
PERSONAL BEST FOR JAYARAM 🔥🔥
Dondapati Jayaram has become a NATIONAL CHAMPION in the men’s U-20 100m with a timing of 10.50s.
He was also part of the 4x100m relay teams that won Bronze 🥉 in the Asian U-20 Athletics… pic.twitter.com/yZE5etlPf7
— nnis Sports (@nnis_sports) December 8, 2024
Maharashtra athletes followed Jayaram to the finishing line, with Laukik Melge bagging silver and Harsh Raut the bronze medal.
B.K. Swain, the additional secretary, DSYS, and Odisha Olympian Anuradha Biswal presented the medals for the U-20 100m men’s race.
Tamil Nadu’s Abhinaya Rajarajan emerged fastest in the women’s U-20 100m final, clocking 11.66 seconds.
Abhinaya Rajarajan won gold in the U-18 women’s 100m in 11.66 seconds, thus equalling Dutee Chand’s national record.
