Odisha girl Jayanti Behera made the state and the country proud by bagging one gold and one silver medal in the World Junior Para Athletic Championships held at Nottwil, Switzerland from August 3 to 6, 2017. She struck gold in the 400m T47 event, clocking 1:01 minutes and captured the silver medal in 200m T47 category with a timing of 28.04 seconds.

Earlier this year, she achived identical success at the China Open Para Athletics Grand Prix Championships, winning gold and silver in 400m and 200m with timings of 1.02 minutes and 28.50 seconds respectively. By virtue of her impressive performance in the China Open, Jayanti qualified for the London World Senior Para Athletics Championships, where she secured sixth place in 400m event earlier last month.

Before turning to para athletics, Jayanti also showed her prowess in normal athletics, winning medals in state and zonal championships. She bagged a double in the 63rd Odisha State Athletics Championship, grabbing gold medals in under-20 girls’ 800m and 1500m events at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack in December 2015. Jayanti then secured one silver and one broze in U-20 girls’ discus throw and 1500m race respectively in the 28th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship at Guwahati in Sept 2016.
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PHOTO: Odisha para athlete Jayanti Behera with her medals in Bhubaneswar.