NATIONAL ATHLETICS
RANCHI, Sep 28: Manikanta Hoblidhar of Services ran his personal best and one-hundredth of a second shy of the national record to win the 100m gold on the second day of the 64th National Open Athletics Championships here on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Army sprinter clocked 10.19 seconds to better his own meet record of 10.23 seconds set in 2023 in Bengaluru. Hoblidhar rocketed off the blocks and powered his way to the finish line at the Birsa Munda Stadium.
The former national 100m record holder raised his hands in jubilation when he crossed the finish line. His winning time, however, fell short of Animesh Kujur’s national 100m record of 10.18 seconds.
“I was confident of improving my personal best today,” Hoblidhar said after the race.
“I had the strength and energy to further raise the bar in the 100m dash but just fell short,” said Hoblidhar whose earlier best was 10.22 seconds.
Maharashtra’s Pranav Gaurav, 24, finished second with a time of 10.31 seconds, and the third place went to 21-year-old Harsh Raut of Services, who clocked 10.38 seconds.
The women’s 100m title went to Sneha SS of Karnataka. Her winning time was 11.62 seconds.
“I wanted to win. I’m happy to have won gold in the season ending competition,” Sneha said.
The men’s 400m event was also a big attraction. Olympian Rajesh Ramesh, who was making a comeback after a brief hiatus, raced to victory with a season best of 45.75 seconds.
His gold medal winning time fell short of the meet record of 45.70 seconds set by Rajiv Arokia in Kolkata in 2015.
The women’s 400m title went to Neeru Pathak of Uttar Pradesh, whose time was 52.85 seconds. Olimba Steffi of Railways was second with a time of 53.75 secs. Karnataka’s Priya Mohan made a comeback to take the third spot with a time of 54.04 seconds.
Tamil Nadu’s Gobika K, winner of women’s high jump gold (1.79m), injured her right knee on the last jump and was taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, A woman shot putter was not allowed to compete as she did not turn up with her state kit which was made mandatory by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) through a September 15 circular.“The AFI has already issued a circular that all the competing athletes should wear kits of respective states. The states have been allotted colours and the athletes’ jersey should have the name of the affiliated units, etc. The state units have been given money for this purpose,” former AFI Treasurer Madhu Kant Pathak said. (PTI)
