Promising Odisha girl Sabita Topp won the silver medal in the 100m hurdles event on the second day of the 4th South Asian Junior Athletics Championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai today. She finished second with a time of 13.96 seconds.

Unnathi Aiyappa, also from India, won the gold with new meet record, clocking 13.93 seconds (previous recorde 14.19 seconds). The bronze medal went to Sri Lankan PG Miyuni Sidasna who finished third with a time of 15.32 seconds.

This was the third junior international medal for 19-year-old Sabita, who hails from Sundargarh district and trains at Odisha-Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

Sabita won her first two junior international medals (gold in medley relay and silver in 100m hurdles) at the 4th Asian Youth Athletics Championship 2022 in Kuwait. She was the winner of the Biju Patnaik Sports Award as best upcoming athlete in 2023.

Sabita is the third athlete from Odisha to win a medal at the ongoing SAFF Junior Athletics Championship. Laxmi Priya Kisan bagged one silver in junior women 800m run and Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram secured one bronze in junior men 100m sprint earlier on the opening day.
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PHOTO: Odisha girl Sabita Toppo celebrates after winning the 100m hurdles silver medal at the South Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Chennai on 12 September 2024.