"Winning in front of my home crowd was more special", DM Jayaram

Sakshi Chavan won the U-20 Best Female Athlete of the tournament –

Bhubaneswar, 11 December, 2024: Reliance Foundation’s young athletes sparkled brightly at the 39th National Junior Athletics Championships 2024 in Bhubaneswar from 7th to 11th December, winning a total of 12 medals, including eight Golds, two silvers and two bronze medals besides two meet records to boot.

Reliance Foundation’s athletes stole the show on the final day of action, winning four Golds in the evening session through Ommkar Prasad Nanda (U18 men’s shot put), DM Jayaram (men’s 200m), Sakshi Chavan (women’s 200m) and Laxmipriya Kisan (women’s 800m).

Triple gold medallist DM Jayaram said, “I am really happy to get three golds as this is my last year of U20 competition. I achieved my personal best in the 100m and also was part of the meet record setting 4x100m relay team. It is not easy to win three golds for a sprinter and I’m very happy that I achieved this feat. I hope to do even better in the future. Doing it in front of my home state crowd makes it even more special. The Odisha government and Reliance Foundation have been a big support. I have had access to the best coaches and support staff thanks to them. I will now focus on the National Games and World University Games, which are coming up next year and aim to achieve my goals there.”

Sakshi, Jayaram and Astik Pradhan dominated the sprinting events, with Sakshi and Jayaram taking away gold in both 100m and 200m events in a dominant display. Jayaram and Astik were also a part of the Odisha men’s 4x100m relay team that blazed away to Gold in just 41.10s, a new meet record. Mahendra Santa and Rajendra Sidhu were the other members of the dominant relay quartet.

Jayaram clocked a new personal best of 10.50s in the men’s 100m final, while Sakshi also equaled her personal best of 11.86s in the women’s equivalent. Sandeep Gond added to the gold rush by finishing top in the men’s 110m hurdles event with a time of 14.02s.

Martin Owens, Head Coach, Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, praised the efforts of the athletes, saying, “Astik put in a fantastic performance in the 400m after working so hard in the lead up. He is shaping up to be a very good runner. To go under 47 seconds is an outstanding achievement for him. In little more than 90 minutes after that, Odisha won the 4x100 relay, where Mahendra Santa gave a great start, which was consolidated by Jayaram and Rajendra Sidhu did really well to close the race out under pressure. We have done a lot of quality relay training in the last two weeks. Jayaram had a great tournament and showed impressive stamina and closes the year on a high. It’s a tough ask to take part in three events and is reward for all the hard work he has put in and the work and the support team who have worked so hard on his conditioning. Sakshi was just amazing and won her races comfortably and is a real class athlete. Sandeep got off to a blistering start and did well to hang on for Gold in a photo finish.”

Ommkar was the standout in the shot throw event with a best effort of 19.96m. Jayaram completed the double and a hat-trick of Golds by winning the 200 in 21.27s. Sakshi ran a superb time of 24.14s in the 200m final, a new meet record. Laxmipriya stormed to Gold in 2:14.44s in the women’s 800m.

In the women’s 100m hurdles event, Sabita Toppo continued her consistent run this season by winning silver in a time of 14.17s. Astik, who won a brace of medals, took silver in the 400m with an impressive personal best of 46.97s.

The promising Rishabh Giri won bronze in the men’s javelin throw by hurling the javelin to a distance of 69.83m. In the U16 men’s 600m, Ani Salbam bagged bronze by surging past the finish line in 1:22.50s.

About Reliance Foundation Sports:

Reliance Foundation's sports initiatives have touched the lives of over 22 million young people since 2013 across the country from over 13,000 schools and colleges, enabling an opportunity for talented children anywhere to be able to achieve their dream of a career in sport. It is especially committed to ensuring more presence and the success of girls and women athletes in India and designs its programmes in a manner that offers them maximum opportunities. Reliance Foundation’s sports programme aims to develop the sporting ecosystem in India starting from the grassroots. Through its scholarship and athletics programmes, the foundation currently supports over 200 athletes in more than 10 Olympic sports. It also operates three world-class athletics training facilities in India and has partnerships with the IOC, IOA, AFI, and Odisha government. Reliance Foundation runs the Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) football academy, which is India's highest-rated football academy, with many graduates going on to represent various ISL clubs. The Foundation's approach to developing the football ecosystem includes organising three grassroots initiatives: Reliance Foundation Youth Sports, RFYC Naupang League, and Reliance Foundation Development League.

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