Bhubaneswar: Adding more laurels to the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, talented sprinters Reyan Basha and Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram have been selected to take part in the Asian Junior Athletics Championship Camp 2023. The camp will be held in NSSC, Bengaluru.
Reyan represents Odisha U-18 Boys and India U-18 Boys. He has one gold (100m sprint), two silver (one each in 200m sprint and 1000m medley relay) medals at the 18th National Youth Athletics U-18 Championship, which was held in Udupi in March 2023. He also made a successful international debut by winning the boys medley relay silver medal at the 5th Asian Youth U-18 Athletics Championship, which was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in April 2023.
Dondapati Mrutyam Jayaram won the gold in 100m sprint at the Khelo India Youth Games with timings of 10:53 seconds. He also secured first position in the Junior Fed Cup Championship 2023 and at the National Junior Championship 2022 in the 100m category. He was also selected for relay squad for the Asian U-20 Championship camp. In February 2023, Dondapati was also awarded Rs 1 lakh for winning the gold medal in 100m sprint with an impeccable timing of 10.96 seconds at the Khelo India Youth Games, which was held in February this year.
Martin Owens, head coach of the Odisha Reliance High Performance Centre spoke highly about Reyan’s and Jayaram’s performance. He said, “I am very proud of the boys. They have been performing exceptionally well for the past few months. I am sure that they will take a lot of confidence from this and look to build on this in the upcoming months.”
Coach Owens further praised the sprinters for their dedication and their hard work. He said, “We spotted them last year during and then we called them for the trials at the High-Performance Centre. Ever since they have joined, they have only been better and breaking records. They will always have our full support and I am sure that many youngsters will look up to them as their role model and inspiration.”
He added, “This outstanding achievement is a result of the collaborative efforts of talented athletes, the visionary Odisha Government, and the innovative Reliance Foundation. The HPC has successfully created a sustainable support system for athletes, fostering their growth and development, on the track as well as outside of it.”
