Odisha woman Olympian Srabani Nanda secured her second medal in the 61st National Open Athletics Championships by winning the 200m silver on the fifth and last day at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore today. She had bagged the 100m gold earlier on the second day.

Srabani finished second in womens 200m sprint, clocking 23.71 seconds. Archana S Suseendran of Tamil Nadu captured the gold medal ahead of Srabani with a timing of 23.43 seconds, while the bronze medal went to Chandra Lekha Anandha (Railways), who clocked 23.84 seconds.

Odisha bagged a total three medals in this championship. Kishore Kumar Jena was the only other medallist for Odisha, claiming the bronze medal in mens javelin throw yesterday.

Among other Odisha athletes in action on the final day, Manisha Merel finished 10th in womens long jump with an effort of 5.50 metre. The gold in this event was grabbed by Shaili Singh of Uttar Pradesh, while Kerala pair of Shruthi Lekshmi and Nayana James took the silver and bronze respectively. Surprisingly, the more popular Odisha woman Olympian Dutee Chand did not participate in this championships.

Shot Putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Services), whose performance was worth 1162 points, and 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji (Railways), whose sub-13 second effort was worth 1174 points, claimed the Best Athlete titles for men and women respectively.

Railways won the overall team championships with 297 points while Services and host Karnataka were second and third with 174 points and 69.50 points respectively. Services, which scored all its points in the mens events, beat Railways to the mens title. The Railways women collected a whopping 201 points to leave Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh far behind.
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PHOTO: Ace Odisha sprinter Srabani Nanda displays her 200m silver medal at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bangalore on 19 October 2022.