Port Blair, Nov 18: Athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia swept the half marathon in both men and women categories with only one Islander, Ms. Sandhya Kispotta from Sports Authority standing 3rd in the women’s event.
The first place in the half marathon in the men category went to Mr. David Kiptoo Kiprotich of Kenya at a record time of 1h:04m:46s, while Ms. Tsiee Tadesse Mengistu from Ethiopia clocked 1h:22m:24s in the women’s.
The 10K event in the open men category was swept by the Army 18 Kumaon regiment of Andaman & Nicobar with all the three positions going to Mr. Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Mr. Rajeev Kumar and Mr. Balwant Singh at an impressive timings of 32m:43s; 32m:59s & 33m:56s respectively. In the open women category Ms. Jeromina Xaka from the A&N Police bagged first place clocking 53m:47.55s, while the second and third place went to Ms. Ganga Devi from Civilian and Ms. Dhan Laxi from A&N Police clocking 55m:02.53s & 1h:02m:11s respectively.
In the 10K senior men category Mr. S. Kali Muthu from Coast Guard stood first clocking 53m:33.12s while in the senior women category Mrs. Rajabala Sharma, a house wife (Andaman & Nicobar Command) stood first clocking 1h:11m:40s.
Earlier Mr. Anand Prakash, IAS, Chief Secretary, A&N Administration flagged off the event from the Cellular Jail in the presence of Mr. Rahul Bose and Mr. William S. Pinckney, Managing Director of Amway.
The event saw over 700 people participating in the two events and Air Marshal P. K. Roy, AVSM, PVSM, Commander in Chief, Andaman & Nicobar Command distributed the awards and medals at the Netaji Stadium in the presence of a large gathering including officers of Andaman Administration, Defence and Members of Andaman Chamber.
