Nagpur: Ace athletes Neha Dhabale and Gaurav Khodatkar of Nagpur won medals on second day of the 73rd Maharashtra State Senior Athletics Championship on the synthetic track at Shiv Chhatrapati Krida Nagri, Balewadi, Pune on Sunday. The event is being organised by Pune District Athletics Association under the auspices of Maharashtra Athletics Association.
Neha won silver medal in the 400m hurdles race and Gaurav won a bronze medal in the 1500m run. Neha of Sprinter Hub Club had to settle for a silver medal in the women’s 400 metres hurdles. She clocked 1 minute 04.27 seconds. The gold medal was won by Shrawani Sangle of Nashik (1.02.96) while the bronze medal was won by Swanandi Sawant of Mumbai with a time of 1 minute 05.48 seconds.
In the men’s 1500 metre race, Gaurav (Arts Commerce Night College) of Nav-Maharashtra Krida Mandal won the bronze medal with a time of 3 minutes 53.57 seconds. The gold medal of the race was won by Kartik Karkera of Mumbai Suburban with a time of 3.49.01. The silver medal was won by Prakash Gade of Sangli with a time of 3.49.09. Bhavesh Khandar of Track Star Athletics Club finished fourth in this race.
In the 4×100 relay race,the Nagpur women’s team finished fourth while the men’s team had to settle for fifth place, informed District Athletics Secretary Dr Sharad Suryawanshi. Neha has previously made her name with a gold medal in the 400m dash at the Maharashtra State Inter University Games in 2023-24, a silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the Khelo India University Games, a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the National Athletics Championships for the Under23 age group, and a gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the AB Inter-University Athletics Championships, setting a new competition record.
Gaurav had won gold medals in the 1500 and 5000 metres at the Under-23 Athletics Championships held in Mumbai last year, as well as a gold medal in the 1500 metres at the Maharashtra State Inter- University Sports Festival last year. Gopal Palandurkar is Neha’s coach while Gaurav practices under the guidance of Jitendra Ghordadekar and Sayali Waghmare.