Going strong

Jamshedpur, Feb. 26: Jharkhand Athletic Association (JAA) officials are a pleased lot.

Fresh from their seven-medal haul at the recently-concluded Guwahati National Games, state athletes have also romped home after bagging the runners-up position in the Federation Cup National Cross-country Championship, held at Ramnagar in Bangalore, from February 25.

Jharkhand athletes bagged the runners-up position in both men and women’s cross-country, of 12 km and eight km.

Interestingly, the athletes who secured the ranks were the same players, who had been taken to the Guwahati games. Jharkhand athletes managed the second spot after the services team surged ahead in the team championships .

JAA officials were all praises for the the federation cup rules which they called “interesting”, as the position of a particular team is decided after adding up positions of all four athletes participating in the race.

The JAA president, Madhukant Pathak, said: “Let’s say there are four athletes running for the team championships. At the end of the race their positions are added up. For example, if Jharkhand athletes secure the second, fourth, eighth and eleventh ranks in a race, their numbers when added up will give 25. That would be their total point. Then a team that may score less, even if by one mark, would be declared the winners,” Pathak explained.

Therefore, in the men’s category, Jharkhand managed 27 points, while Services got 19 points, making them the winners. Uttaranchal scored a total of 65 in the same section and secured the third spot.

Similarly in the women’s team championships, Jharkhand secured a total of 31 points, which made them second to Maharashtra, who scored a total of 13 points. In the individual event, Jharkhand’s Preeti Rao came out with a brilliant performance.