Bhubaneswar: Reliance Foundation athletes are gearing up to represent India in Track and Field events at the World University Games after an impressive performance at the national and international stage. The World University Games will be held from 28th July – 08th August, 2023 in Chengdu, China. During the World University Games, the world’s best athletes from various Universities will compete for 269 gold medals in 18 sports.
Speaking ahead of the tournament, James Hillier, Athletics Director, Reliance Foundation said, “I am absolutely delighted as for many of these athletes this will be their first opportunity to compete in a major championships internationally. It is a steppingstone into bigger and better things for some of our athletes and for others it’s their first foray into a major multi-sport event. It’s a very proud moment for me personally as the director of the program and also a very proud moment for the athletes.”
Jyothi, Amlan among big names:
Jyothi Yarraji will participate in the women’s 100m Hurdles event after her remarkable performance in the recently concluded Asian Athletics Championships in Thailand, where she became the 1st Indian ever to win a Gold in her event. In the last edition of the World University Games in 2019, Dutee Chand had won the only gold medal in Athletics for India in the women’s 100m.
Amlan Borgohain will return to the track in the 100m and 200m events after his impressive gold medal performance in the Inter-State Athletics Championships, Bhubaneswar.
After winning the silver medal in Decathlon during the Inter-State Athletics Championships, Yamandeep Sharma who trains at the Odisha Reliance Foundation High Performance Center, will also look to continue his consistent run of form in the same event.
Young athletes to watch out for:
Odisha Reliance Foundation High Performance Center athletes will also be confident of making a mark at the world level.
Among the athletes looking to make an impression would be Pragyan Sahu, who broke Jyothi Yarraji’s meet record in the 100m Hurdles with an effort of 13.63 seconds to win the gold medal at the Khelo India University Games earlier this year. Susmita Tigga and Manisha Merel had also clinched gold medals in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase and Long Jump events respectively at the same tournament and will now look to repeat that feat at the international level.
Laluprasad Bhoi, who won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay during the Inter State Athletics Championships and Swadhin Majhi, who won a silver medal in Men’s High Jump by clearing 2.11m at that tournament, will round up the contingent of Reliance Foundation athletes appearing at the World University Games.
