BHUBANESWAR 13-May-2016
Young Odisha sprinter Sukhi Baskey cornered glory in the National Finals of the GAIL-Indian Speedstar Contest, winning first position in under-14 girls 100m and 200m events at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi yesterday. With this achievement, Sundargarh lass Sukhi became eligible to receive world class coaching facility for over a period of four years with an ultimate objective to represent India at the 2020/2024 Olympic Games.
Eight other athletes also emerged winners in the National Finals of GAIL-Indian Speedstar, an initiative by GAIL (India) Limited to spot, screen, select and nurture the talents in athletics. Altogether 75 shortlisted kids from different districts of India participated in the National Finals.
Other eight winners are: Tai Bahmane (Maharshtra) u-14 200m, Cynthia Francis (New Delhi) u-14 200m, Nisar Ahmed (New Delhi) u-14 100m, Nehal S (New Delhi) u-14 200m, Sanika Nate (Maharashtra) u-14 100m, Akshay Nain (New Delhi) u-17 200m, Maria Karachiwala (Maharashtra) u-17 200m and Jisna Mathew (Kerala) u-17 100m.
The initiative in its first year kick-started earlier this year with initial trials conducted at 55 districts across 10 states in which more than 25,000 children participated out of which 899 children finally made it to the State level Camp and Selection.
Daughter of a farmer, Sukhi Baskey has been practicing since the age of 10. She is honing her skills at Government Sports Hostel, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, since 2013. Her best timings in 100m and 200m till date are 13.31 and 27.34 seconds respectively. She also had the credit of winning 200m silver medal in the School Nationals.
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PHOTO: Sukhi Baskey receives a trophy from Odisha Olympian Anuradha Biswal in New Delhi on May 12, 2016.
