Cuttack, Sep 6: Four Odisha athletes have been chosen to participate in the South Asian Athletics Federation (SAAF) Junior Athletics Championship 2024 to be held in Chennai from September 11 to 13.
The four selected athletes from Odisha are Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram (100mtr, 200mtr and 4x100m Relay), Pratik Maharana (200mtr), Mahendra Santa (4x100mtr Relay) and Sabita Toppo (100m Hurdles).
A total of 55 athletes across the country will be participating in the SAAF championship. The four athletes from Odisha have been selected by Athletics Federation of India to represent India in the above championship, informed Odisha Athletics Association (OAA) on Friday.
Jayram from Kalahandi, Mahendra Santa from Nabarangpur and Sabita Toppo from Sundargarh district are presently undergoing training in Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. They are being trained under coach Rohit Mane. Similarly, Pratik Maharana of Bargarh district is training in Rourkela coach Siba Prasad Mishra, OAA sources added.
Apart from the four athletes, Prabodha Kumar Mohanty, International Technical Official will also be representing India in the championship as a Technical Official.
OAA secretary Ashirbad Behera, OAA president Dr GS Patnaik, alongwith members of the Odisha Athletics Association have congratulated the athletes and technical official Mohanty for SAAF championship.
