Kozhikode: The 61st national schools athletics championship got underway at the Olympian Rahman Stadium here on Friday and Kerala gave itself a headstart leaving its nearest rivals far behind.
The defending champions won four gold medals on day one that had six finals. Anumol Thampi, Bibin George, P.R. Aleesha and P.N. Ajith bagged golds in middle and long distance races. Idukki girl Anumol pocketed the junior girls’ 3000m title with a meet record.
Kerala’s return from the inaugural day was 29 points and Uttar Pradesh is second with nine points while Vidya Bharathi and Punjab share the third place with five points each.
The second day is expected to be tricky as 15 finals are lined up. Kerala could improve their lead if they make most of the six 400m finals.
K. Sneha and Linet George are potential medallists in the junior girls’ 400m races while Shaharbana Sidhique is eyeing gold in her final senior attempt.
M.K. Sreenadh and Albin Babu are Kerala’s 400m hopes in boys.
M. Vineeth and Aneesh Madhu are expected to raise the bar in junior pole vault while in senior long jump Gift Godson and N.S. Abhijith need to better their state schools performances to land a medal. By all means, it is a big day ahead.
