KALIDAS Hirve of Pune and Dheeraj Mishra of Mumbai claimed twin golds on the opening day of LIC 36th Western Zonal Volleyball Selection Trials and LIC 54th Western Zonal Athletic Meet got under way at two different venues on Thursday. Hirve won gold medals in 1500m and 10,000m while Mishra claimed the yellow metals in long jump and triple jump at Divisional Sports Complex in Mankapur.

Earlier, the meet was inaugurated by Kiran Ghai, Regional Manager (HRD), LIC of India, Western Zone, Mumbai.

Pranay Kumar, Sr Divisional Manager, LIC of India, Nagpur Division and Chairman, Organising Committee, Veerbhadra Rao, Manager (P&IR) and Naval Meshram, Manager (NB) DM, Dattatray Salaskar, Member of LIC Sports Promotion Board from Western Zone and Ashok Chandak, Secretary, Organising Committee, Roopa Shetty, Sharad Nanal, Officials from Western Zonal Office were also present on the occasion.

The athletics meet conducted at Mankapur saw some expected performances from Kalidas Hirve, Monica Athare, Dheeraj Mishra, Datta Zodge who all won medals.

Results: Winners: Athletics Men: Javelin: Manthan Patel (Gandhinagar, 34.21m); Hammer Throw: Prashant Rao (Mumbai, 18.70m); Discus Throw: Aniruddha Gujar (Satara, 24.90m); Shot Put: Aniruddha Gujar (Satara, 11.37m); 200m: Datta Zodge (Pune, 24.1s); 800m: Datta Zodge (Pune, 2.09.87s); 1500m: Kalidas Hirve (Pune, 4.21.74s); 10,000m: Kalidas Hirve (Pune, 32.58.39s); Long Jump: Dheeraj Mishra (Mumbai DO-2, 6.29m); Triple Jump: Dheeraj Mishra (Mumbai DO-2, 14.25m); Women: 200m: Pinky Pawar (Mumbai, 36.16s); 800m: Monica Athare (Nashik, 2.28.75s); 1500m: Athare (Nashik, 4.51.26s).