THREE young female athletes of Miles and Milers Sports Academy finished on the podium at the recently held Indian Triathlon Federation’s national event in Chennai. As per provisional results of the two-day meet that was held on September 24-25, Snehal Joshi (18 years) won bronze medal in Elite Women’s Race 1500m swim, 40km cycling and 11km run; Sanjana Joshi (16 years) won gold medal in Sprint Distance Triathlon 750m swim, 20km cycling and 5.5km running. In Junior Sprint category, Yashashri Dhole (14 years) won a silver medal in the youth category 250m swim, 7km cycle and 3km run. The academy is run by Dr Amit Samarth. Sisters Snehal and Sanjana are students of Somalwar School while Yashashri belongs to Narayana Vidyalayam.

 

The CSS Triathlon and Mixed Relay ITF Open, Chennai is the first qualification event for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Athletes with the best timing in sprint distance will be invited for the national camps and is provisionally considered for selection of the Indian contingent for 2022 Commonwealth Games, Birmingham and 2022 Asian Games, China subject to performances and Government of India approval. Dr Samarth was overjoyed at the performance of his wards and wishes to put many budding athletes on the national and international map. He has been training athletes at his Miles and Milers Sports Academy since last five years. Himself a world class athlete and ultracyclist with many records in his kitty, Dr Samarth has been into fitness training, triathlon training, Ironman and Ultracycling training. He coaches athletes not only all over India but also abroad through online personalised coaching modules. “All these girls had a good training in swimming but were new to cycling and running. I took care of that aspect. Actually, all the girls are very punctual and it was not much of a difficulty for me to train them. “The Elite Women’s Race is the most important event as players from this category only are selected for international event. The triathlon was a standard one that is being held world over.

 

It is a very historic moment for city that a player finished on the podium on her debut. In fact, three debutants winning medals is a great news for the city. “Snehal came out form the pool at the eight number, but I had confidence in her running and she made up for that loss in the later two events to bag a bronze. “Sanjana and Yashashri are also very hard working and if they stick to their passion and training regimen, they can become big sportspersons,” said Dr Samarath while interacting with the scribes during a press conference on Wednesday. With the resounding success of these junior girls at the national event, triathlon will get a massive impetus in Nagpur city, Dr Samarth hoped. All the girls, with their parents and well-wishers were present during the presser.