Ganesh, Rucha, Madhuri steal opening day's thunder

Pune, Sep 2 (UNI) National sprinter Ganesh Satpute and Rucha Patil of Pune stole the opening day's thunder in the Rohan Builders-sponsored Maharashtra State Athletics championships by winning the men's and women's 100 meters sprints respectively.

International long-distance ace Madhuri Gurnule of Nagpur won the demanding women's 10,000 meters race in the meet which got underway at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports City at Mahalunge-Balewadi near here.

Stocky Pune lad Satpute came off the block well and shot into the lead and breezed past the finish, clocking 10.5 seconds while overcoming a modest challenge. Rajendra Dagdge of Raigad, who took three seconds more, and Deepak Basarkar of Pune with a time of 11.2 seconds took the silver and the bronze respectively.

''I could have brought off a better timing had it not been for vigorous competition,'' said Satpute who has now joined the Indian Railways.

The corresponding women's 100 sprint was won by promising Rucha Patil who clocked 12.5 seconds to record her first striumph in the women's section. She was followed by Pooja Patil of Pune who clocked 12.6 seconds to claim the silver while Shishira Hegde of Thane took the bronze with a time of 13.2 seconds.

International Madhuri Gurnule, who has recently recovered from fever, forged ahead right from the start and kept it up to win the women's 10,000 metres in a time of 40 minutes 02:04 seconds leaving a strong field way behind. Deepa Patil of Pune (42:05:02) and Neelam Kadam of Raigad with a time of 46:05:02 were placed second and third respectively.

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