Sabita Toppo won the first medal for Odisha at the 17th National Youth (U-18) Athletics Championships, bagging the girls 100m hurdles gold, clocking 14.15 seconds on the opening day of the three-day championship at Tantia Tope Stadium in Bhopal (MP) today.

A trainee of Bhubaneswar-based Reliance Foundation 14.15 sec Athletics High Performance Centre, Sabita also qualified for the 4th Asian Youth Athletics Championships, scheduled to be held in Kuwait from 13 to 16 October 2022. The qualifying mark, set by Athletics Federation of India was 14.44 seconds.

Odisha Athletics Association has fielded a 10-member squad, featuring three girls and seven boys in the Youth National Championships. Among other Odisha athletes in action today, Rajendra Sidhu finished fifth position in boys 110m hurdles, clocking 14.73s. Swagat Behera finished seventh in boys triple jump with an effort of 14.02m.

Sabita Toppo along with statemate Jamuna Tudu also qualified for the girls long jump final which will take place tomorrow. In the preliminary round, Sabita and Jamuna stood second and seventh with efforts of 5.59m and 5.40m respectively.

Other Odisha athletes in the fray are: Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram (boys 100m), Mahendra Santa (boys 100m, 200m), Nikhil Kumar Sahoo (boys 200m), Laxmipriya Kisan (girls 800m), Bapi Hansda  (boys 800m), Pankaj Mondal (boys 800m) and Nitish Kullu (boys 110m hurdles).
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PHOTO: Odisha girl Sabita Toppo poses with her 100m hurdles gold medal at the National Youth Athletics Championships in Bhopal on 17 Sept 2022.