A high-voltage battle for sprint supremacy is on the cards as athletes from India and Sri Lanka gear up for the men’s and women’s 100m finals on the opening day of the fourth South Asian Athletics Championships at the Birsa Munda (Morabadi) Stadium on Friday.
“It will be a close contest between Indian and Sri Lankan athletes in the 100m dash tomorrow,” India’s sprint coach R. Seenivasan said on Thursday.
All eyes will be on Maharashtra’s 24-year-old international sprinter Pranav Gurav, who boasts a season best of 10.27 seconds, clocked in April in Kochi. He will be joined by Harsh Raut, 21, as the second Indian contender in the men’s field.
The Indian duo will face stiff competition from Sri Lanka’s reigning 100m champion Chamod Yodasinghge. “The men’s 100m race will be a keen contest,” said the 25-year-old sprinter. Diyalawaththa DS is the second Sri Lankan in the fray. A total of 11 sprinters, including two each from India and Sri Lanka, will line up for the event.
A similar India–Sri Lanka fight is expected in the women’s 100m sprint, featuring Jilna MV and Sudeshna Shivankar for India.
The preliminary heats of the men’s 100m dash will kick off the action on Day 1.
Nine medal events will be decided on Friday, including men’s triple jump and men’s shot put. India’s rising thrower Samardeep Gill from Madhya Pradesh is aiming big. “I’m confident to cross the 20m mark tomorrow,” Gill said.
Jharkhand’s Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sudivya Kumar, expressed confidence in the successful conduct of the meet. “All necessary arrangements have been made for athletes as well as the sporting fraternity,” he said.
More than 200 athletes from six nations — India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Maldives — will compete over the three-day championship in Ranchi.
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