Ambika and Afsana strike it rich

Mysore’s V. Ambika heaved the iron ball to a distance of  11.98 metres to win the gold medal in the under-16 girls’ shot put event in the three-day Shriram Properties National inter-district junior athletics meet (NIDJAM), at the Port Diamond Jubilee Stadium, here on Saturday.

Mumbai’s Poorna Rao Rane (11.94) and Chennai girl S.V. Visruti (11.08) settled for silver and bronze respectively.

In the four other finals held on the inaugural day, Tripura’s Afsana Aktar threw the javelin to a distance of 33.37m to take the top honours in the under-16 girls’ event.

Varanasi’s Versha Verma (32.18) and Cuttack’s Priyanka Toppa (30.95) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Mohit of Rewari (16.64m) was away ahead of his rivals in under-14 shot put. Thane’s Abhijit Nair (15.93m) and Panipat’s Sourabh (15.76m) were the other podium finishers.

Ranga Reddy’s Manan Venkatesh, with his impressive second leap (6.11m), bagged the coveted yellow metal. Delhi’s Sumit Rohila and Ernakulam’s Aadhinath took home silver and bronze respectively.

AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu gave away the medals to the winners.

In the morning the event was inaugurated by a host of ministers and Athletic Federation of India officials including president Adille Sumariwala and Olympian Anju Bobby George.

The results:

Boys: Under-14 long jump: 1. Manan Venkatesh (RR) 6.11m, 2. Sumit Rohila (Delhi- NW) 6.01, 3. M.V. Aadinath (Ernakulam) 5.97.

Under-16 shot put: 1. Mohit (Rewari) 16.64m, 2, Abhijit Nair (Thane) 15.93, 3. Sourabh (Panipet) 15.76.

Girls: Under-14 long jump: 1. Rabina Khatun (Nadia) 4.80m, 2. Pratiksha Sanas (Aurangabad) 4.58, 3. E. Manisha (Thoothukudi) 4.50.

Under-16 shot put: 1. V. Ambika (Mysuru) 11.98m, 2. Poorna Rao Rane (Mumbai) 11.94, 3. S.V. Visruti (Chennai) 11.08.

Under-16 javelin: 1. Afsana Aktar (Sepahijala) 33.37m, 2. Versha Verma (Varanasi) 32.18, 3. Priyaka Toppa (Cuttack) 30.95.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by  J.R.Sridharan / Visakhapatnam – September 06th, 2015