Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 12: Orissa sprinters won gold in the women’s 4×100 metres relay in 55th National Inter-State Senior Athletic Championship at Chennai, Sunday.
The team comprising Purnima Hembram, Jauna Murmu, Srabani Nanda and Dutee Chand clocked 46.20 seconds to secure the first position. Kerala clinched the silver medal, while Maharashtra bagged the bronze medal.
Orissa Athletic Association (OAA) secretary Asirbad Behera congratulated the relay team for their gold winning feat. This was the third medal for Orissa in the competition. Earlier Srabani Nanda had won a gold in the women’s 200 metres event, while Sarita Singh had won a silver medal in the hammer event.
Meanwhile national record holder javelin thrower Annu Rani performed well below her best but still managed to win a gold medal on the penultimate day of the event.
Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist Annu, representing Uttar Pradesh, clinched the gold with a throw of 54.67m, well below her national mark of 59.53m. There was no challenger to Annu as Haryana’s Pusha Jakhar (49.69.m) and Karnataka’s Shaheja Hani (48.72m) finished a distant second and third respectively.
In women’s triple jump, Malliakkal A Prajusha of Kerala won the gold medal but her effort was below her personal best of 13.39m. Prajusha cleared 13.33m for the title, while Amita Baby (12.92m) of Chhattisgarh and Bhairavi Roy (12.79m) of Bengal finished second and third respectively.