NAGPUR athletes Riya Dohatare and Saurav Tiwari bagged silver and bronze medal respectively on third and last day of the 73rd Maharashtra State Senior Athletics Championship that was held on synthetic track of Shiv Chhatrapati Krida Nagri in Balewadi, Pune on Monday. The event was organised by Pune Athletics Association under the auspices of Maharashtra Athletics Association. Riya bagged silver medal in the women’s 3000 metre steeplechase clocking 11 minutes and 25.26 seconds.

 

She missed the gold medal by a whisker as Prachi Devkar, who took 10 minutes and 45.92 seconds, won the yellow metal. The bronze medal was won by Vaishnavi Sawant in 12 minutes and 6 seconds. In the men’s 3000m steeplechase race, city athlete Saurav came third with a time of 9 minutes and 9.15 seconds. The gold medal was taken by Nashik’s Shubham Bhandare who clocked 8 minutes and 68.92 seconds. Pune’s Dhuldave Ghagare (8 minutes and 08.50 seconds) came third. The fourth spot was won by Mavde Sports Club Nagpur’s Rajan Yadav (9 minutes and 02.75 seconds). Swati Panchbuddhe booked the seventh spot in the women’s 10000 metre race.

 

In the 800 metre race, city athletes were expected of a medal haul but the results were disappointing with Bhuneshwari Masaram finishing at the 5th spot and in men’s event, Atharva Bhadekar came sixth while Harsh Singh finished eighth. In men’s heptathlon which includes many athletic events that are played over two days, Dingat Bapat scored 590 points to finish at the ninth spot and Amol Bawne with 586 points came tenth. In the men’s relay event of 4x400, Nagpur finished fourth, the team comprised Atharva Bhandekar, Yash Nikode, Jay Yelekar and Harsh Singh, informs District Athletics Secretary Dr Sharad Suryawanshi.