All eyes on Adarsh, Prajakta

 

 

 

 

 

NAGPUR will be expecting medals form skippers Adarsh Bhure and Prajakta Godbole in the 72nd Maharashtra State Senior Athletics Championship that commences on Saturday. Nagpur District Athletics Association (NDAA) and Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU) will be organising the mega three-day event at RTMNU’s synthetic track in Ravi Nagar. NDAA is expecting good performance from its players. Apart from Bhure (100m) and Godbole (10,000m and steeple chase), the other local stars who have accepted the challenge and are confident of clinching medals on the home track are Neha Dhabale, Riya Dohatare, Bhavashree Mahalle, Ashutosh Bavane, Chaitali Borekar, Sakshi Tambakhe and Sadab Pathan.

 

If Nayan Sarde and Tejaswini Lambakane perform at their best, they too have a chance of a medal at the state meet.

In last year’s state meet which was held in Pune, Nagpur team had to be content with only three medals in their kitty. Rajan Yadav clinched bronze in the 3000m steeplechase race, Prajakta got a silver in women’s 10000m race while women’s 4x400 relay team got a bronze medal. The performance of Nagpur players has improved this year compared to last year and it is said that Nagpur will be taking at least seven to eight medals in the home tournament. Prajakta, who won a bronze in Federation Cup, will be eyeing gold in 10,000m race. Participation of Satara’s Reshma Kevata is uncertain and it looks like the main fight will be between Sanjeevani and Prajakta.

 

Neha, who won a bronze medal in 400m hurdles race in Under-23 age group and also got silver in Khelo India competition will be another city athlete through whom Nagpur can expect a medal. She will be challenged by Shweta Chikodi of Kolhapur, Leena Kohle, Isha Negi of Mumbai suburbs and Shravani Sangle of Nashik during the tournament. In the team events, Nagpur’s women 4x400m relay team has a chance of winning gold. In men’s category, Bhure, well aware of competition at senior level, is confident as he created history by winning silver medal in the blue riband event in All India Inter-University Championship and also won 100m and 200m races in State Inter-University Championship on the same track. Maharashtra squad for senior inter-state tournament which is scheduled to take place in Panchkula (Haryana) from June 26 to 30 will be selected from the tournament.