National Open Athletics Championships: Athletes from Railways take lead on First Day

Athletes from Railway Sports Control Board were on track on the opening day of the 64th National Open Athletics Championships here at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Stadium (Morabadi). While RSCB athletes were on track,

it was a disappointing day for promising pole vaulter and national record holder Dev Kumar Meena as he finished.

On Saturday RSCB's experienced jumper Bhairabi Roy gave a good start to her team, winning women's triple jump gold with a distance of 13.10m.

The 30-year-old Bhairabi, based out of Mumbai says winning first position here in Ranchi gave a big boost to her confidence as she was coming back from a lay off due to a hamstring injury. Bhairabi had a series of 12.80m, F, 12.90, 12.82, 13.10 and 12.82m.

She hopes to earn a podium finish in the women's long jump event scheduled on September 30. "I'm looking forward to adding another medal at the long jump arena," says Bhairabi in post-match interaction. RSCB earned its second gold of the opening day in the men's pole vault through M Gowtham, RSCB was also successful in winning silver in the women's discus throw through Nidhi. Nidhi's best throw on Saturday was 53.71m.

While Haryana's Seema won gold with a throw of 55.26m, which was achieved in the fourth attempt. Seema had a series of 55.03m, 52.71m, 54.47m, 55.26m, F, 53.40m.

Away from the throwing arena the men's 100m preliminary round and semis turned out to be as exciting despite light drizzle.

Army's Manikanta Hoblidhar representing SSCB had a smooth sailing to the medal round. He finished first in his semifinal heat with a time of 10.23 seconds, which was the fastest time of the day. Hoblidhar also equalled the meet record of 10.23 seconds set by him in 2023 in Bengaluru.

The Maharashtra's inter-state 100m champion Pranav Gaurav was also through to the semis. His time in the semis was 10.39 seconds.

Hoblidhar claimed he wasn't able to push hard in the semis, hinting of a thrilling final on Sunday. "I will do my best in the final," says Hoblidhar.

The day-one of the decathlon witnessed SSCB Stalin Jones taking lead with 3682 points, followed closely by teammate Usaid who collected 3679 points.

The events on day-one in decathlon were---100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. The day-two events will be-110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500m.

Earlier in the morning session, Prince Kumar of Police Sports Control Board won the first gold medal of the day by winning the men's 5,000m track race. The women's 5,000m gold went to Seema of Himachal Pradesh.

Results

Men

5,000m: Prince Kumar (All India Police) 14:06.57, Sunil Dawar (SSCB) 14:14.88, Abhishek Pal (Railways Sports) 14:19.16.

Pole vault: M Gowtham (Railway Sports) 5.10m, Rambeer (SSCB) 5.10m, Dev Kumar Meena (Madhya Pradesh) 5.10m.

Women

5,000m: Seema (Himachal Pradesh), 16:01.27, Sanjana Singh (Haryana), 16:03.23, Kajal Kanwade (Gujarat) 16:21.88.

Discus throw: Seema (Haryana) 55.26m, Nidhi (Railway Sports) 53.71m, Sanya Yadav (Haryana) 52.05m.

Triple jump: Bhairabi Roy (Railway Sports) 13.10m, Poorva Sawant (Maharashtra) 13.05m, Nimisha Dayma (Madhya Pradesh) 12.96m.