Darshan, Varsha win maiden SAFF, Natl Cross Country titles

Kohima, March 26: Darshan Singh and Varsha Devi won the men’s and women’s 10km crowns of both the SAFF Cross Country Championships and National Cross Country Championships which were held simultaneously at the picturesque but tough course here on Saturday.
Both Darshan and Varsha tasted maiden international success with timings of 31:08.00 and 37:14.00 respectively at the SAFF event. The race was made more challenging due to 60 per cent humidity and gusts of wind at the Nagaland capital.
Sri Lankan RNS Pushpakumara (33:12.00) and Nepal’s Pal Mukesh Bahadur (34:08.00) took the men’s 10km silver and bronze respectively at the SAFF Cross Country Championships.
Nepal’s Pachchai Rajpura (38:48.00) and Sri Lanka’s MSP Madhumali Perera (39:38.00) finished second and third respectively in the women’s 10km event.
In the National Cross Country Championships 10km event, the 25-year-old Darshan of Services was initially bunched in the front with his team-mates Rajendra Nath, Deepak Singh Rawat, Dipak Suhaug, defending champion Parasappa Madevappa Hajilol and Railways Narendra Pratap Singh. He never lost rhythm or position.
Soon after, Rajendra Nath and Darshan pulled away from the rest. After the 5km mark, Darshan stepped up the pace to gain a handy lead. He was hardly challenged over the last two laps and won by a 24-second margin.
Having finished fourth and sixth in the last two years, the victory must have tasted sweet for Darshan.
In the women’s 10km race, Rebi Pal (Uttar Pradesh) opened briskly but the six Railways runners dominated the race.
The 27-year-old Varsha (of Railways), silver medallist in 2020, pulled away from her team-mates on the final of the five loops of 2km to win by a small margin.
Gujarat’s Reena Bachau Patel prevented a Railways sweep of six places by beating last year’s winner Sonika.
Uttarakhand’s Akash Patel and Jharkhand’s Ashakiran Barla won the men’s and women’s U-20 events while Ritik Sharma, who hails from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, and Aakancha Kerketta won the boys’ and girls’ U-18 crowns.
One of Aakancha’s training partners, Walter Kandulna, completed a hat-trick of medals in the National Cross Country Championships with a silver medal in the boys’ U-18 6km race to add to the U-16 gold in 2020 and silver last year. (PTI)