Dnyaneshwar Morgha, a 21-year-old long distance runner from from Vanvani, Kalyan, took his own time after Manjeet Singh of Sports Authority of India, Kandivali, set the pace, to win the 3000m run in the Sports Authority of India long distance trials for their all India Elite Athletic Excellence Programme, held at their Sports Centre at Kandivali here today.
Dnyaneshwar Morga, Manjeet Singh and Nilesh Shelar, who finished 1-2-3 in the 3000m run pose with the Chief guest Olympian Anand Menezes, SAI Director (Western Region) Ms Sushmita Jyotsi and Mumbai Suburban District Athletic Association hon. Secretary Prasad Pathak.
In fact, 19-year-old Manjeet took a commanding lead in the opening round, but once Morgha caught him around 500m, there was no looking back as he went on win the event in 9:07.2 secs. Recently Morgha has represented Maharashtra at the Cross Country Championships at Jhansi, where he was second best in the 10km and 3 km runs. Manjeet, however, did well to finish second in 9:46.6 secs. Both ran away from the rest of the field to emerge clear winners. Manjeet has been performing pretty well at the Maharashtra State level meets. He won silver in the 800m run in the West Zone Athletes meet held at Ajmer (Rajasthan). Even last year, Manjeet Singh had won the 3000m event in the boys under-18 category.
Olympion Anand Menezes, who represented the country in the 2000 Olympics in the 200m and 4 x 100m relay, was the guest of hour.
Results: Men (U-23): 3000m: 1. Dnyaneshwar Morgha (Vanvasi, Kalyan) -9:07.2 secs; ; 2. Manjeet Singh (Sports Authority of India_ 9:46.6 secs; 3. Nilesh Shelar (Ajinkya, Kalyan) – 11:31.1 Secs.