Thane athletes extend golden run at Maharashtra championship

Thane athletes continued to rule the roost at the LIC-69th Maharashtra State Senior Athletics Championship here, winning a clutch of gold medals on the concluding day of the meet Wednesday.

Indian junior quarter-miler Nidhi Singh proved to be the one-lap queen, winning gold in the women's 400m, 400m hurdles and later anchoring the Thane quartet to victory in the 4x400m relay to complete a grand treble.

Nidhi's teammate Diandra Valladares completed a sprint double by adding the 200m gold to the 100m dash she won on Tuesday.

Diandra clocked 23.98secs, which was way ahead of her nearest rival Ratnagiri's Mangiri Revale, who took silver in 25.22secs, while the bronze went to Mumbai's Saroj Shetty, who completed the race in 25.37secs.

Diandra also finished with three gold medals having run the final leg in leading Thane to gold in the 4x100m relay.

Thane also won the mens 4x100m and 4x400m relay gold medals.

Punes Jaykumar Gavde also bagged a sprint double, winning the 200m race clocking 21.48secs, while Akshay Khot and Ajit Singh, both of Thane, won the silver and bronze, respectively.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) officials conducted dope tests on athletes during the two-day event.

Though a NADA official declined to share exact number of athletes who were tested, he said samples have been sent to New Delhi for analysis.

Results: Women 200m: 1. Diandra Valladares (Thane) - 23.98s, 2. Mangiri Revale 25.22s, 3. Saroj Shetty 25.37s.

Men 200m: 1.Jaykumar Gavde (Pune) - 21.48s, 2. Akshay Khot: 21.75s, 3. Ajit Singh - 21.90s.

Women 400m: 1. Nidhi Singh (Thane):57.29s, Soniya Mokal: 58.87s, 3.Sangeeta Shinde: 59.65s.

Men 400m: 1.Baljeet (Pune): 48.43s, 2. Rahul Kadam: 48.59s, Yogesh Meher: 49.12s.

Women 3000m Steeplechase: 1. Komal Jagadale (Nashik) 10:35.37s, 2. Vaishnavi Sawant: 11:30.47s, 3. Priyanka Chavarkar: 11:53.38s.

Men 3000m Steeplechase: 1. Aditya Bhosale (Satara)