Swati overcomes scare from Nikita

Pune, July 12 (UNI) Amman Asian Cross Country gold medalist Swati Gadhave of Pune overcame a scare from Nikita Nagapure of Ahmednagar before romping home to win the six-kilometer race for girls under 20, while Sudhir Kumar of Army Sports Institute (ASI) and Reshma Patil of Pune claimed top honours in the men's and women's events in the Pune Divisional Cross Country championship sponsored by the Pune International Marathon Trust (PIMT) here today.

Seventeen-year-old Swati, who performed so well in the junior Asain championship, never thought that school national winner Nikita could pose such a spirited challenge.

The six-kilometer race saw the two together almost till the final lap. It was sheer experience of Swati which stood in good stead who put everything in the final burst to pip Nikita at the post in the best fare of the day. Swati breezed past the finish clocking 23:45:2. Nikita took 1 second more to be placed second, while Reshma Dalvi snatched the third slot with a time of 23:47:3.

In the demanding 12-km men's race, Sudhir Kumar snatched an early lead but was soon caught up by Dilip Jadhav of Bombay Engineers Group (BEG) and Centre and teammates Ramesh Kumar Pal and Mukesh Kumar, and the bunch remained together till the half way mark. The smooth-striding Sudhir Kumar then made his move and never allowed others to catch up with him, to finish in a time of 40:14:3.

Shamsunder, also of ASI, took the silver clocking 40:16:3, while Jagmohan Singh of BEG was placed third with a time of 41:11:3.

Following are the results: Men's 12 kms: Sudhir Kumar (ASI) (40:14:3) 1, Shamsunder (ASI) 2, Jagmohan Singh (BEG) 3, Ramesh Kumar Pal (ASI) 4, Mukesh Kumar (ASI) 5, Dilip Jadhav (BEG) 6.

Women's 8 kms: Reshma Patil (Pune) (30:53:4) 1, Deepa Pate (Pune) 2, Bhagyashri Khanekar (Baramati) 3, Shalaka Waikar (Pune) 4, Ankita Salunke (Pune) 5, Pooja Rokade (Pune) 6.

Boys Under-20 8 kms: Anil Pawar (Sol) (24:36:2) 1, Sachin Dhole (Pune) 2, Vilas Bhosale (Pune) 3, Chandrakant Gire (Pune) 4, Suryakant Mudgal (Sol) 5, Sailesh Kumar (Pune) 6.

Girls Under-20 6 Kms: Swati Gadhave (Pune) (23:45:2) 1, Nikita Nagapure (A'nagar) 2, Reshma Dalvi (Pune) 3, Amruta Mane (Pune) 4, Sulochana Bhondve (Pune) 5, Pooja Jat (Pune) 6.

Boys Under-14 2 Kms: Amsha Vasave (Pune) (6:0:04) 1, Satish Kumar (Pune) 2, Dugesh Kumar Pal (Pune) 3, Bhanuprakash Manchanrani (Pune) 4, Mohit Kumar (Pune) 5, Harpreet Singh (Pune) 6.

Girls Under-14 2 Kms: Ashwariya Bhujbal (Pune) (7:0:09) 1, Ashwini Narai (Pune) 2, Sonali Zare (Pune) 3, Apeksha Waikar (Pune) 4, Saili Vidhate (Pune) 5, Sarika Medikhambe (Pune) 6.

UNI