Tirupati Masters athletes shine at national championship in Kerala

The Masters athletes of undivided Chittoor district (now Tirupati), representing Andhra Pradesh, stood out at the 46th National Masters Athletic Championship 2026 held at Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in Tiruvananthapuram, Kerala, recently.

The event was conducted by Masters Athletics Federation of India, which is affiliated to World Masters Athletics and Asian Masters Athletics bodies. Master athletes do not fall in the general age category of sports. Mostly sexagenarians and above are considered for these sporting events.

K. Dhananjaya (72) of Tirupati hogged the limelight by winning a gold medal in the 300m hurdles and a silver in 80m hurdles. He finished the 300m sprint in 1:16:82 seconds to emerge first at the All India level.

While many of the participants have either served as professional athletes or retired as physical education trainers, Mr. Dhananjaya has no such affiliations to sport. The fifth class dropout ekes out a living as a fair price dealer in Tirupati. Further, this septuagenarian had no professional coaching, nor the resources to pursue training.

Other medallists

The senior-most among the participants from the State, M. Pushpa Kumari, who took part in the 85+ years category, bagged a gold in hammer, silver in javelin throw and a bronze in discus throw respectively. Similarly, T. Nirmala (80+), M. Bharathi (70+), B. Neeraja (75+) and L. Suseela (65+) bagged medals in various categories, according to the Chittoor District Masters Athletic Association president L. Suseela.