(From left) Karnataka's Sneha SS, Kaveri Patil, Daneshwari AT and Jyothika pose with their gold medal after winning the 4x100m relay in the 63rd National Open Athletics Championship at the Sree Kanteerava stadium on Sunday.
Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V
Bengaluru: The Karnataka quartet led by Sneha SS along with Daneshwari T, Kaveri Patil and Jyothika gave the state its first gold medal of the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships after triumphing in the women’s 4x100m relay here on Sunday.
The foursome, who faced stiff competition from the Railways’ team comprising Nithya Gandhe, Himashree Roy, Avantika Narale and G Ravikumar, came good in the finishing stages of the race to top the podium with a timing of 45.21 seconds.
The race started off with Kaveri running the first leg before passing the baton to Daneshwari who handed it over to Jyothika - the youngest of the lot. Still in second position until then, the 21-year-old left the onus of pulling their team through to the experienced Sneha, who was running the anchor leg.
“I was about 2-3 metres behind the Railways runner with about 80m to the finish line,” said the 26-year-old Sneha.
“However, my body started opening up in the last 60m. That is when I began to accelerate which helped in finishing first. It was a great team effort. The baton exchanges were good except a small blip in the second one. We are really happy to win gold for Karnataka in front of the home crowd,” expressed Sneha, who had missed gold in the individual 100m race by a whisker on Saturday.
While the Railways women took silver by clocking 45.29s, Odisha bagged bronze with a time of 45.93s.
In the corresponding men’s relay, Odisha (39.65s) won gold ahead of Railways Sports (39.82s) and Services Sports Control Board (39.99s) in second and third positions respectively.
With a sizable group of spectators cheering on the long jumpers, Railways Sports’ Arya S leapt to gold with an effort of 7.89m in the men’s event while Kerala’s Muhammed Yahiya claimed the silver (7.78m) and Punjab’s Jagroop won bronze (7.65m).
Earlier, the men’s high jump event saw Kerala’s Jomon Joy (2.14m), Railways Sports’ Aadarsh Ram (2.11m) and Haryana’s Rohit (2.11m) occupying the one-two-three positions on the podium.
Results: Men: Long jump: Arya S (RS) 7.89m, 1; Muhammed Yahiya (Ker) 7.78m, 2; Jagroop (Pun) 7.65m, 3.
High jump: Jomon Joy (Ker) 2.14m, 1; Aadarsh Ram (RS) 2.11m, 2; Rohit (Har) 2.11m, 3.
Hammer throw: Ravi (RS) 66.41m, 1; Ashish Jakhar (SSCB) 64.87m, 2; Nitesh Poonia (RS) 64.85m, 3.
Shot put: Samardeep Gill (MP) 19.27m, 1; Abhilash Saxena (MP) 18.53m, 2; Dhanveer Singh (SSCB) 18.51m, 3.
4x100m relay: Odisha 39.65s, 1; Railways Sports 39.82s, 2; SSCB 39.99s, 3.
35km race walk: Amit (Har) 2:38:00, 1; Vijay Vishwakarma (SSCB) 2:39:13, 2; Eknath Turambekar (RS) 2:39:36, 3.
Women: Pole vault: Baranica Elangovan (RS) 4.15m, 1; Krishna Rachan (RS) 4.10m, 2; Pavithra Venkatesh (TN) 4.00m, 3.
4x100m relay: Karnataka 45.21s, 1; Railway Sports 45.29, 2; Odisha 45.93s, 3.
35km race walk: Payal (RS) 3:02:24, 1; Ramandeep Kaur (RS) 3:08:22, 2; Bandana Patel (UP) 3:09:31, 3.