Two Odisha girls make it to Commonwealth Games athletics contingent

Bhubaneswar: Two athletes from Odisha have made the state proud as they have made it to the final list of players to represent India at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018.

Jauna Murmu and Purnima Hembram have made the cut for the upcoming sporting event beginning April 4.

The girls have found place in the athletics contingent comprising of 32 players, including 18 men and 13 women.

While Jauna Murmu will represent in the 4X400 metre relay event, Purnima Hembram has been selected for the heptathlon category.

The announcement comes two days after the culmination of 22^nd Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championship held in Patiala, an event mandatory for athletes to meet qualifying criteria.

Though Purnima bagged gold, she failed to meet the qualifying criteria by 11 points. However, she was given grace points so as to enable her to be included in the squad.

On the other hand, Jauna had bagged bronze in 200 metre at the event.

The list of players is as below:

MEN:

Jinson Johnson (1500m), Dharun Ayyasamy (400m hurdles, 4×400 m relay), Siddharth Yadav (High Jump), Sreeshankar (Long Jump), Arpinder Singh (Triple Jump), Rakesh Babu Arayan Veerttil (Triple Jump), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Shot Put), Neeraj Chopra (Javelin Throw), Vipin Kasana (Javelin Throw), Irfan Kolothum Thodi (20 km walk), Manish Singh Rawat (20km walk), Muhammed Anas Yahiya (4x400m relay), Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay), Kunhu Mohammed Puthanpurakkal (4x400m relay), Jeevan Karekoppa Suresh (4x400m relay), Jithu Baby (4x400m relay), and Arokiyarajiv (4x400m relay).

WOMEN:

Hima Das (200m, 400m, 4x400m relay), Suriya Loganathan (10000m), Narayana James (Long Jump), Neena Pinto (Long Jump), Seema Punia (Discus Throw), Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (Discus Throw), Purnima Hembram (Heptathlon), Soumya Baby (20km walk), Khushbir Kaur (20km walk), Poovamma Raju Machettira (4x400m relay), Sonia Baishya (4x400m relay), Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad (4x400m relay), and Jauna Murmu (4x400m relay).