Sayali Waghmare does Nagpur proud

NAGPUR: Promising city athlete Sayali Waghmare continued her impressive run in the national schools athletics meet by bagging two bronze medals in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
Running in the U-19 category for the first time, Sayali claimed the podium finish in the 800m race to clinch her first bronze. The talented teenager then helped Maharashtra finish third in the 4x400m relay race.
A student of Pandit Bachharaj Vyas Vidyalaya, the 17-year-old though failed to achieve her set target of breaking the 2.11-minute barrier but still managed to bring home a medal when she finished the 800m race with a timing of 2.17 minutes. The gold medal in the 800m was won by Jessi Joseph of Kerala in 2.12m, followed by Archana Adau (2.15) of Pune.
Sayali along with Archana and two others from Sangli helped state team claim a bronze medal in the 4x400m in the U-19 category.
Other city youngsters Riddhi Chamat and Mansi Uikey, who are participating in the national athletics for the first time, too made their presence felt. Though both these 12-year-old runners failed to win medal, they achieved the target set by their coach Jeetendra Ghordadekar.
Participating in the sub-junior (U-14) category, Riddhi finished 6th in the final 400m race with an impressive timing of 1.04:62 min while Mansi had to satisfy with a 5th position (1.09m) in the 400m semifinals of the U-17 category.
With all his prodigies displaying enough grit despite the chilly conditions, Ghordadekar was a satisfied soul. In a chat with TOI from Etawah, the coach said, "Overall there was an improvement. Though we are not used to the cold weather, all our runners came up with impressive timings. My next target for Sayali is 2.11 and I will make sure she achieves it in the junior nationals this year. It was a great learning experience for the first timers, Riddhi and Mansi."