Athletics: Railway Sports Promotion Board wins overall senior team title in cross-country trophy

Ranchi, Jan 24 (IANS) Harmanjot Singh, representing Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), was the winner of the men's individual 10km event with a time of 30:33 as athletes from Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) dominated the 60th National Cross Country Championships held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, on Saturday. 

Runners from RSPB were on track to clinch team titles in the senior men and women sections, while the winner in the women’s individual 10km event was Nandani Gupta of RSPB. Her winning time was 35:42.28.

The men's U20 team title went to Uttar Pradesh (22 points) while Maharashtra took home the women’s U20 trophy (21 points).

The 35 teams, including affiliated state units, will compete in the National Cross Country Championships in Ranchi on Saturday. Overall, 732 athletes, including 328 female runners, have confirmed their participation in the first domestic competition of the 2026 season.

The distance for the senior men and women will be 10km. The junior men will compete over a distance of 8km. The distance for the U20 women’s will be 6km. The distance for U18 boys will be 6km, and for U18 girls will be 4km, respectively.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) will now select both senior and junior (U20) athletes for next month’s Asian Cross Country Championships in Japan, says AFI president Bahadur Singh Sagoo. The top four runners in each of the senior (men and women) and junior (men and women) groups will be selected for the Indian team during the national cross-country championships, Sagoo added.

Results:

Men: 10km (individual): Harmanjot Singh (SSCB) 30:33, Punit (Uttar Pradesh) 30:50, Ankit (SSCB) 30:50.

Team: Railway Sports Promotion Board 38 points, Uttar Pradesh 40 points, Rajasthan 48 points.

Women: 10km (individual): Nandani Gupta (Railway) 35:42.28, Ujala (Uttar Pradesh) 36:50.73, Soniya (Uttarakhand) 37:06.04

Team: Railway Sports Promotion Board 16 points, Uttar Pradesh 30 points, Kerala 69 points

Men: U20: 8km (Individual): Mohit Choudhary (Telangana) 25:04.31, Sailesh Kushwaha (Karnataka) 25:24.20, Shekhar Choudhary (Chandigarh) 25:47.33.

Team: Uttar Pradesh 22 points, Maharashtra 45 points, Haryana 75 points.

Women: U20 (Individual): 6km: Vaishnavi Rawal (Karnataka) 22:45.59, Sakshi Bhandari (Maharashtra) 22:53.84, Versha (Uttar Pradesh) 22:58.04.

Team: Maharashtra 21 points, Karnataka 76 points, Himachal Pradesh 83 points.

Boys: U18: 6km: Dakshveer Singh (Madhya Pradesh) 19:29.98, Ajay Kumar (Haryana) 19:30.46, Raj Sinha (Bihar) 19:31.30.

Girls: U18: 4km: Deepika (Rajasthan) 14:44.10, Khushboo (Rajasthan) 14:50.68, Roshini Kalura (Uttarakhand) 15:18.58.

Boys U16: 2km: Vinay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 5:48.67, Mohd Sameer Khan (Uttar Pradesh) 5:49.09, Atharv Chigari (Maharashtra) 5:51.78

Girls: U16: 2km: Laxmi Obannavar (Karnataka) 6:57.02, Arti Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 7:15.05, A Thanishkaa Anbaras (Tamil Nadu) 7:19.16

--IANS

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