Priyanka Goswami, Shaili Singh among athletes feted for winning medals in national-level events

Athletes from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) were felicitated for their medal-winning performances in recent national-level athletics events here on Tuesday.

They were recognised for their medal-winning achievements, in the event named "Recent Significant Achievers", during the recently-concluded Indian Grand Prix 1-4 held in Trivandrum and Bengaluru, Race Walking Championships and Jump Competitions as well as other National-level athletics tournaments.

The evening began with the felicitation of the outstanding athletes, who have been training at the NCOE Bangalore. The Medal winners included the Athletes of NCOE Bangalore & Athletes training under the National Coaching Camp at SAI Bangalore.

Having recently qualified for World Championships in Budapest and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Priyanka Goswami, Akshdeep Singh, who created a new nation'l men's 20km race walk record at the National Open Race Walking Championships in Ranchi this year, Vikas Singh and Paramjeet Sing Bisht were a part of the felicitation ceremony, the SAI informed in a release on Tuesday.

Shaili Singh, 19, who recently produced an all-time second-best long jump effort with a mark of 6.76 metres at the IGP 4 in Bengaluru last week, was also felicitated. The mark was only behind the record held by Anju Bobby George at 6.83 metres. Shaili has been a part of NCOE Bengaluru for three years.

Shaili, who qualified for the Asian Games, to be held later this year, trains under Dhronacharya Awardee coach Robert Bobby George, the High-Performance Coach of SAI.

A host of other athletes were also felicitated on Tuesday by Smt Ritu Pathik, Regional Director of the Sports Authority of India, Padmashree Anju Bobby George, Vice President of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Rupinder Pal Singh, Olympic medallist in hockey, Aparna Ghosh, Dhyan Chand Awardee in basketball and Divya Singh, former basketball player and High-Performance Manager at the Sports Authority of India.

The other NCOE athletes felicitated included athletes who also have qualified for the Asian Games -- Eldhose Paul, gold medalist in Triple Jump at Commonwealth Games 2022, Manju Rani for the 35km Race Walk, and Munita Prajapati and Hardeep, both for the 20km Race Walk.

Other national campers who are being trained in SAI Bengaluru, who were also felicitated at the event for their recent performances included Rakshitha Raju (400m &1500m), Keshavmurthy (1500m & 5000m), Sharath (1500m & 5000m), Neeraj Yadav (Para Javelin, Discuss, Para Shot Put), Navdeep Singh (Para Javelin Throw), Meet Tadhani (100m), Jinson Johnson (1500m), Ram Baboo (35Km Race Walk), Mansi Negi (10Km Race Walk under-20), Muhammed Yahiya Anees (Long Jump), Ancy Sojan (Long Jump), Abhishek Pal (5000m), Chanda (800m & 1500m), Ankesh Chaudhary (800m), Balkishan (3000m Steeplechase), Komal Chandraka Jagadale (3000m Steeplechase), Krishan Kumar (800m), Gulveer Singh (5000m), Shekar Kumar Pandey (Pole-vault), Ankita (5000m), Vijayakumari (800m), Priyanka C (6km - Team Cross country), and Rashi C M (1500m).