New stars on the horizon.. Hajilol’s winning time was 31 minutes 13.21 seconds while Sonika clocked 37 minutes 09.53 seconds for the 10km route…reports Asian Lite News
Karnataka’s Parasappa Madevappa Hajilol and Sonika of Haryana tamed the challenge to win the men’s and women’s 10km titles at the 55th National Cross Country Championships at the ATF Golf Meadows course in Dera Bassi, near Chandigarh, on Sunday.
Hajilol’s winning time was 31 minutes 13.21 seconds while Sonika clocked 37 minutes 09.53 seconds for the 10km route.
Hajilol, 25 who comes from Bijapur and trains in Dharwad, surprised more seasoned runners like Vikram Bangriya of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra’s steeplechaser Adesh Yadav. Bangriya was second at 31 minutes 15.21 seconds while Yadav clocked 31 minutes 19.41 seconds to finish third.
Railways distance runner Abhishek Pal and defending champion Anish Thapa Magar of Services couldn’t keep pace with leading runners and finished down the ladder.
Since the 2km grassy course was quite challenging, Hajilol’s time of 31 minutes 13.21 seconds was less than a minute slower than Anish Thapa Magar’s time of 30 minutes 31.00 seconds clocked in January last year in Warangal.
Sonika, 21, ran a well-judged pace to outpace her more experienced rivals in the last 200m of the race to take home the gold medal. Maharashtra’s Komal Jagdale was second with a time of 37 minutes 11.40 seconds while Nikita Raut finished third at 37 minutes 12.71 seconds.
Defending champion Kavita Yadav failed to keep pace with the leading bunch to finish fourth.
Services retained the men team’s title with 28 points while the Railways with 54 was second. The Madhya Pradesh team was third with 61 points.
The women’s team event saw a remarkable upset as Haryana defeated the Railways. Haryana with 24 narrowly beat Railways who collected 26 points.
Apart from senior group, races were also organised in under-20, under-18, under-16 in both boys and girls categories.
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