Confidence boost for Khel Vikas Weightlifters before Youth National Competition

The Kankia School Weightlifters competed against other schools within Orissa at the 59th State School Championships, which was at the Government Sports Hostel at Berhampur Stadium. Of the 8 Khel vikas athletes that participated, four girls and one boy have qualified for the School National Competition. This is a big confidence boost for the athletes going into the Youth Open Nationals, after impressive performances all round. Big Performances The weightlifters showed how well they have progressed under the guidance of the Khel Vikas coaching staff, several of them creating new personal bests, and all the qualifiers for the national competition finishing first in their respective categories. Two female weightlifters, Santilata Nayak and Jyoti Badamundi, have made a national level competition within the first year of weightlifting, lifting a total of 92Kgs (53Kg category) and 70Kgs (44Kg category), respectively. Qualifiers The young athletes will now be preparing for the School National Weightlifting competition, to be held in January 2014 in New Dheli (Boys) and Guwahati, Assam (Girls), where they will be competing against qualifiers from other states. The Kankia School Weightlifters will be looking to build on their confident display in Berhampur Stadium to be within a chance of winning medals.