Warangal: Railways dominate on inaugural day of NOAC

Warangal: It's indeed a historical day for Warangal in the context of sports, said Minister for Sports and Culture V Srinivas Goud, who along with Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao formally inaugurated the 60th National Open Athletics Championships (NOAC)-2021 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday. "Hosting national track and field event in which players across from 23 States showcase their talent in 48 events.

This is the first time that a prestigious event is being organised in both the Telugu-speaking States – Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," Goud said. Plans are afoot to promote sports by organising camps in Warangal, the epicentre of Telangana Movement, Errabelli Dakar Rao said. The ministers said that they would strive hard to establish a Sports Academy in Warangal. Referring to Ramappa temple, which recently got UNESCO's World Heritage Site tag, the ministers attributed credit to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Chief Whip D Vinay Bhaskar said that Hanumakonda has all the ingredients to become a sports hub. The Railways dominated the inaugural day of the NOAC by putting up a sterling performance in the three final events. In the 5000m Run (Men), UP's Abhishek Pal of the Railways stayed first by clocking 14:16.35 minutes. Dharmender of Services (14:17.20), and Ajay Kumar (14:20.98) of Services finished second and third. In the Women 5000m Run, Parul Chaudhary of Railways who clocked 15:59:69 won a close contest against Komal Chandrakant Jagadai (16:01.43) of Maharashtra. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav of Maharashtra finished third clocking 16:19.18.

Pole vault finals (Women): Pavithra Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu topped the event by clearing 3.90 metres. Maria Jaison and Krishna Rachan of Railways took next two spots by clearing 3.80 metres and 3.7 metres respectively.

Dandi Jyothika Sri of Andhra Pradesh who clocked 54.83 seconds in the women's 400 m Run qualified for the final. K Naresh Kumar of Andhra Pradesh qualified for the final round in the Men 100 M Run with a time of 10.54 seconds.

Nitya Gandhe of Telangana made it to the final round by clocking 11.90 in the Women 100 M dash. Her team mate Harika Devi Antaram fell behind in the race and did not qualify. Yaman Deep Sharma of Rajasthan is currently leading the Men's Decathlon with 3,602 points from 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m dash. 100m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, 1500m run are to follow. There was good turnout from the locals at the stadium with even local schools sending their students to witness the national event. The athletes were cheered from the galleries and boundary fence.