Nagpur's Nikita wins 3000m gold in Maharashtra junior athletic meet

NAGPUR: Promising city's long distance runner Nikita Raut won the gold medal in the 3000 metres race in the Maharashtra Junior State Athletics Meet at Ratnagiri.
Nikita, who won the silver medal in the 5000m race on the first day of the meet, raised her level of performance to grab gold in 3000m with a timing of 11 minutes and 4 secs.
Earlier Nikita, who trains under Ravindra Tong at the Track Star Athletics Club, had won the Nagpur University cross-country race few months ago.She is a student of Mohta Science College.
In the 800m race, Rupali Manmode of SBCT College missed the bronze medal as she finished fourth.
Continuing with their impressive performance in the relay events, the boys and girls team of Nagpur district won the bronze medal each in the 4x400m relay.
The girls team was represented by Rupali Manmode (SBCT College), Dipali Sahare (Vidyarthi Yuwak Krida Mandal), Shweta Kukde (Track Star Athletics Club) and Utkarsh Lende (Bhagwati Girls HS) finished third with a timing of 4 minutes and 51 secs.
The boys team clocked 3 minutes and 43 seconds and placed third. Bhaskar Atkare, Vrushabh Bhatulkar (ProHealth Foundation), Sachin Raut and Lokesh Nagrale (Nav Maharashtra KM) were the members of the Nagpur district relay team. A little better effort from Nagpur relay teams could have earned them a silver medal.
Hundreds of young athletes from all over Maharashtra are participating in the annual athletic meet. The top performers of this meet will be selected in the Maharashtra squad for the forthcoming Junior Athletic Meet.