Athletes L Suriya, V Neena defend titles, but fail to make the Rio cut

Distance runner L Suriya bagged gold in the women's 10000m race at the 56th National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Balayogi Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The race also served as the qualifiers for the Rio Olympics that is going to be held in August this year, and though Suriya clinched the gold she could not reserve a berth in Olympics. She fell short of the qualifying mark in the opening day.

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25-year-old athlete from Tamil Nadu, Suriya took top position in the 10,000mt race by finishing it in 33 minutes 27.01 secs. She was succeeded by training partner Swati Gadhave from Maharashtra who finished the race in 3minutes 45.40 seconds and third came Sanjivani Jadhav, again from Maharashtra by finishing the race in 33:54.77.

In the Women’s long jump, V Neena from Kerela was to defend her top position which she retained by taking a big leap of 6.45m and won the gold medal. Previously, in the last edition of the championship that was held in Chennai, Neena won by clearing 6.39m and clinched gold medal from pre-event favourite and teammate M A Prajusha (6.29m). The two were followed by Shraddha Ghule from Maharashtra who came third just like in the Delhi Federation Cup with a score of 5. 98m and earned herself a bronze medal.

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Neena did not just win at the first day of championship but also improved on her past score. However, she too could not make a cut for the Rio Olympics. “I am happy with my performance although I could not accomplish my plan of qualifying for the Rio Games," said Neena after the competition, as reported by Business Standard.

Feature Image Credit: New Indian Express