In the 72nd State Senior Athletics Championship, which started in Nagpur after a gap of 45 years, there was a curiosity to see whether Nagpur's medal account would open. However, all eyes were also on the performance of Asian high jump silver medalist Sarvesh Kushar of Nashik. As expected, he clinched the gold medal and cleared the 2.05m qualification mark for the National Inter-State Championships.
Shadab Pathan, Mithali Bhoyar, Tejaswini Lambakane failed to perform as expected and Nagpur could not open the medal account. Now on Sunday, Prajakta Godbole in the women's 10,000m, Adarsh Bhure, Gopal Palandurkar in the men's 100m, Neha Dhabale and Sakshi Tambakhe in the women's 400m, Bhavyashree Mahalle, Chaitali Borekar and Rhea Dohatre in the 1500m will be in action
The championship is organised under the host of Nagpur District Athletics Association and in collaboration with Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Maitri Parivar and Krida Bharati. The competition started at five in the morning with the men's 5000 meters race. Nagpurkars had their eyes on Shadab Pathan. However, he got tired after five rounds. After falling behind, he could not recover from it. Now Gaurav Khodatkar has reached the final round of 1500 meters with Shadab.
Sushant Jedhe, 23, of Satara won the gold medal in the 5000m race with his personal best time of 14. 14.91 seconds. Karthik Karkera of Mumbai suburb won silver and former Asian Youth Champion Kisan Tadvi of Nashik in 3000m race won bronze (14m.25.40s).
Yamini Thakre of Akola, Rinki Pavara of Nashik, Archana Jadhav of Mumbai Suburb, Srishti Redekar of Kolhapur, Mithali Bhoyar of Nagpur, Tejaswini Lambakane, Pranali Shegaonkar of Buldhana were running together in the women's 5000m race. With two rounds to go, Archana started to pick up the pace and clinched the gold medal in 17. 30.88 seconds. Rinky Pavara (17.34.47 seconds) got silver and Srishti Redekar (17. 38.66 seconds) got bronze medal. Mithali Bhoyar had to settle for fourth place.
Earlier Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University Vice-Chancellor Dr Sanjay Dudhe, Sanjay Bhende of Maitri Parivar, Prasanna Hardas of Krida Bharati, secretary of State Athletics Association Satish Uchil, treasurer Madhav Shejul, vice president Sanjay Patil, Sahil Deshmukh of Bapurao Deshmukh Foundation, International runner Ritesh Anand and others graced the inaugural function. Nagpur District Athletics Association secretary Dr. Sharad Suryavanshi introduced the guests. NDAA joint secretary Archana Kottewar conducted the proceeding.s
Results
Women Long Jump: Shweta Thakur (Mumbai City - 5.28m), Trisha Nair (Thane - 5.26m), Sampada Dhamal (Satara - 5.16m), Shotput - Amera Shah (Nashik - 44 .60 m), Sneha Andhare (Nashik - 38.58 m), Nikita Shewale
(Satara - 36.32m), Men dscusthrow: Satish Deshmukh (Nashik - 48.46m), Prithviraj Nalavde (Pune -45.18m), Omkar Padwal (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar - 40.20m), Pole Vault - Utkarsh Deshpande (Nashik - 4.30m), Mahesh Mangale (Kolhapur - 3.80m), Rohit Patil (Kolhapur - 3.70m)