Kujur to lead Odisha’s challenge at nat’l indoor athletics

Kolkata: Animesh Kujur will lead a strong 33-member Odisha squad at the first national indoor athletics championships to be held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from March 24-25.Kujur did compete at Khelo India University Games and Odisha State Athletics in Dec last year, but this will be his first major event since competing at World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in Sep.With Asian Games and Commonwealth Games to be held later this year, the 100m and 200m NR holder will certainly hope to make a positive start where he has been training all these years. Among other athletes from the state who will be looking to impress are sprinters Lalu Prasad Bhoi and Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram.

Looking forward to the event, Bhoi, who will be competing in 60m said, “I am excited to participate in my first ever indoor competition. I ran here when the Performance Graded Competitions took place early this month, so I have some experience and it will help me to perform.”However, his major focus is currently on Federation Cup and National Inter-State Senior Athletics, the two events that will act as qualifying meets for CWG and Asiad, respectively.

Meanwhile, quarter-miler Bapi Hansda will be making a return to his first major tournament after he was injured during the national games in Jan last year. He did compete in Odisha State Athletics in Dec and won silver in the boys’ U-23 400m with a time of 49.48s. Also, Sabita Toppo will eye a good show in hurdles after failing to remain consistent over the past one year.Among the youngsters, a couple of athletes who will be looking to grab headlines are Pratik Maharana and Ommkar Prasad. Maharana won the 200m gold with a meet record at the National Junior Athletics meet in the U20 category in Bhubaneswar last year and will compete in the 60m of U20 category.As for shot-putter Prasad, he is coming into the event on the back of a gold medal in the U20 category at Indian Open Throws Competition in Patiala, where the 18-year-old topped the podium with a throw of 17.85 metres.