Sabita Toppo, the 17-year-old 100M sprint hurdler from Odisha ran an impressive 14.17 to bag the silver medal at the Asian Youth Athletics Championship held in Kuwait, following the gold that she won in 100m hurdles at the National Youth (U-18) Athletics meet in Bhopal.
Sabita, who hails from Sundargarh, Odisha, the youngest of six siblings, joined the Odisha Reliance foundation HPC in 2019, and that has had a transformational impact on her life with an improvement in her timing by more than two seconds in the years since.
Shri. Naveen Patnaik, Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha, on Twitter, congratulated Sabita on her performance.
“Congratulate Odisha athlete, Sabita Toppo on clinching the Silver medal in 100-meter hurdles with a timing of 14.17s at the 4th Asian Youth Athletics Championships in #Kuwait. May she continue to bring glory to the State & the nation. Wish her all the best for future endeavours.”
Congratulate #Odisha athlete, Sabita Toppo on clinching #Silver medal in 100 mtr hurdles with a timing of 14.17s at the 4th Asian Youth Athletics Championships in #Kuwait. May she continue to bring glory for the State & the nation. Wish her all the best for future endeavours. https://t.co/6it9dbx8gT
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) October 15, 2022
Sabita, said, “I feel so happy winning this medal. There is a lot of hard work and I would like to thank the Chief Minister Sir for his kind words, and the support from the Odisha government and Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC. I am looking forward to improving my timing at every race and working with my coaches.”
James Hillier, Athletics Director of the Reliance Foundation Athletics Programme, said, “Sabita has been a very inspirational story. Personal setbacks to keep performing at the highest levels require a lot of motivation and she possesses an abundance of that quality.”
“She has made tremendous improvement in her race craft working with her coach Rohit Mane, and I see a lot more potential in her, in the months to come.”