P Roopa Rao Wins 100m and 200m Gold at Indian Athletics Series in Warangal

Karnataka sprinter P Roopa Rao secured gold medals in both the women’s 100m and 200m events at the 13th leg of the Indian Athletics Series held at JN Stadium in Warangal on Tuesday.

Roopa Rao clocked a winning time of 11.74 seconds in the women's 100m dash, finishing ahead of Tamil Nadu's Suba Sharsini, who took second with 11.80 seconds, and fellow Karnataka athlete V Sudheeksha, who took third in 12.01 seconds. In the women's 200m, Roopa Rao registered a comfortable victory with a time of 23.93 seconds. Sudheeksha finished second in 24.40 seconds, while Telangana's Pravalika N secured third place with a time of 24.42 seconds.

In the men's events, Ajay Khade of Maharashtra emerged as the fastest male athlete of the competition. Khade took gold in the men's 100m final after clocking 10.44 seconds in a tight race, closely followed by Harsh Santosh Raut of Navy at 10.45 seconds and Sandeep Singh of Himachal Pradesh at 10.46 seconds.

Local athlete Pravalika Narimalla of Telangana took top honours in the women's 400m race, clocking 54.31 seconds to finish ahead of Subha Venkatesan of Tamil Nadu, who finished in 54.44 seconds, and JSW's Anankha BA, who came third in 55.32 seconds.

In other track events, Tamil Nadu's Suraj A won the men's 400m with a time of 46.88 seconds, while Nilkantha Ray of Army finished first in the men's 800m in 1:50.14. Amit Kumar of Haryana took gold in the men's 1500m in 3:47.44, and Andhra Pradesh's Shaik Roshan won the men's 110m hurdles in 14.08 seconds. Shivam Yadav of Army secured victory in the men's 400m hurdles with a timing of 52.41 seconds.

In the field events, Karnataka's Arya S won the men's long jump with a leap of 7.77 metres, and Manoj Kumar J of Tamil Nadu claimed the javelin throw title with a mark of 72.76 metres. Tamil Nadu's Harshitha R won the women's 400m hurdles in 1:00.69, while Kavitha V took the women's 800m title in 2:08.84. In women's jumps, Pavithra G of Railway Sports won the triple jump with 13.00 metres, and Abhinaya S Shetty of JSW won the high jump clearing 1.78 metres.