A 60-member Odisha squad has bagged a total of 12 medals in the 38th National Masters Athletics Championship, which was held at Hyderabad from February 21 to 25, 2017, Orissa Masters Athletic Association (OMAA) informed today. The medals include three silver and nine bronze.

A Raja Rao, Brundaban Sahoo and Arun Kumar Patro secured the three silver medals, while Balaram Patro and Debananda Patra claimed two bronze medals each. The other five bronze medals were pocketed by A Raja Rao, Narayan Mishra, Laxman Sahoo, Swarnaprava Mohanty and Chotu Singh.

Interestingly, www.mastersathleticsindia.com, the official website of Masters Athletics Federation of India (MAFI) did not carry any news or results of the national championship. The only information available in the portal was a contradiction one.

It mentioned that the 38th National Masters Athletics Championship will be held at Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium in Allahabad from March 23 to 27, 2017 and more than 3000 athletes from 22 states are expected to participate in this championship.  When contacted for comment, OMAA secretary Santosh Das clarified that the website was a fake one and it was being run by a corrupt official.

ODISHA MEDALLISTS:
A Raja Rao, one silver and one bronze medals in 75+ men’s pole vault and triple jump respectively.
Brundaban Sahoo, one silver in 70+ long jump.
Arun Kumar Patro, one silver in 45+ men’s 5kg walk.
Balaram Patro, one bronze each in 80+ men’s 1500m run and 5km walk.
Debananda Patra, one bronze each in 85+ men’s 5,000m and 1,500m run.
Narayan Mishra, one bronze in 70+ men’s 5km walk.
Laxman Sahoo, one bronze in 70+ men’s 400m run.
Chotu Singh, one bronze in 40+ men’s 3,000m steeple chase.
Swarnaprava Mohanty, one bronze in 60+ women’s 400m run.