MU team emerges champion at Coimbatore athletics meet

Mangaluru: Mangalore University has capped a brilliant year in sports bagging the All India inter-university athletics team crown at the just concluded 77th edition of the meet at Coimbatore. Hosted under the aegis of Annamalai University, the team that finished on top with 178 points arrived to a hero’s welcome at Mangaluru Central Railway station on Monday.This is the first time that the university has bagged the team championship in the history of this event.
The result was also particularly sweet for Moodbidri-based Alva’s Education Institution for their students comprised a majority of the 64-member squad that Mangalagangothri-based university sent to represent it in this blue riband event as part as inter-university sports meet is concerned. Alva’s students accounted for 55 members of this history-making squad. The 12 gold medals, eight silver and four bronze that the team won were all picked up by Alva’s students.
The three meet records set by Mangalore University in this meet too were notched up by Alva’s students. The record achievers are Olympian Dharun in 400 metres hurdles, Srijith in triple jump, and Haribaksh in 3,000 metre steeplechase. Dharun was also adjudged the best athlete of the meet, noted Dr M Mohan Alva, chairman of Alva’s Education Foundation. “This is a moment of glory for Mangalore University in general and for our chain of Institutions in particular,” he said.
The foundation arranged for residential accommodation for the university team at Coimbatore. To ensure that the team did not suffer ‘Delhi Belly’, the foundation ensure that the team got ‘home food’ during the course of the eight days that the team was in Coimbatore. The foundation also sent physiotherapy experts from its physiotherapy institution to ensure that the team was fit and on course for track and field glory. The 178 points too is an all-time record, he added.