National Open Athletics C'ships: Lalu Bhoi stuns a strong field in 100m

The strong field of 100m dash was stunned at the 63rd National Open Athletics Championships on Saturday as Odisha's young sprinter Lalu Prasad Bhoi won the gold medal.

The 21-year-old sprinter an a well-judged 100m dash to outclass his more experienced runners and emerge as the fastest athlete of the meet with a time of 10.46 seconds.

He defeated the likes of 100m national record holder Manikanta Hoblidhar, 200m NR holder Amlan Borgohain, and current Inter-State champion Gurindervir Singh.

Manikant finished second at 10.48 seconds while Siva B of Railways took the third spot at 10.50 seconds. Amlan and Gurindervir finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The women’s 100m dash was a close contest. Nithya Gandhe of Railways edged out Sneha SS of Karnataka in the photo finish.

In men's 110m hurdles, national record holder Tejas Shirse suffered the first defeat of the season as he finished second behind Manav R who won gold with a timing of 13.86 seconds.

In the men’s 400m race, Delhi’s 23-year-old Tushar Manna grabbed the opportunity to establish himself in the quarter-mile. His gold-winning time was 45.97 seconds.

Aishwarya Mishra of Maharashtra pushed hard in the home straight to win the women’s 400m gold (53.77 seconds). Devyaniba Zala of Gujarat) took home silver (53.87 seconds) while Kunja Rajitha of Andhra Pradesh was third with 54.27 seconds.

In the women’s javelin throw, seasoned athlete and Olympian Annu Rani comfortably won gold with a below-par effort of 58.97m.