Odia girl in UK shines for school team in athletics meet

Bhubaneswar: A 12-year-old Odia girl living in the UK finished 38th among 158 Under-13 girls who qualified for the English Schools Athletic Association Cross Country Cup national round in the junior girls’ category, held at Princethorpe College, Rugby, Warwickshire.A Year 7 student at Dr Challoner’s High School (DCHS), Amersham, Sunaya played a key role in leading her school’s junior girls’ team to the national stage. Her run in the regional round in Oxford — where she secured second place out of 73 competitors — helped DCHS finish third overall in the east-central region, which comprises Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Norfolk counties.In the Buckinghamshire county round, she finished third individually as her team clinched the top spot. Earlier, she topped her school-level trials to earn selection among six junior girls representing DCHS.The English Schools AA Cross Country Cup is one of the most prestigious youth athletics competitions in England, with teams advancing through school, county and regional rounds before reaching the national stage.Adding to her achievements, Sunaya was selected to represent Buckinghamshire at the Inter-Counties Cross Country match in Greenford, London, organised by the Southern England Athletic Association. Despite being one of the youngest in the squad, she finished as the top runner for her county in her debut appearance.A regular participant in weekly park runs and a member of the Chiltern Harriers Athletics Club, Sunaya was honoured at the OSUK annual convention for her progress in athletics and swimming. Last year, she received the Amersham Volunteer Award 2025 from the Amersham Town Council for her contributions as a parkrun volunteer.“Currently, Sunaya and her family are all UK passport holders and have also got OCI (Overseas Citizen of India),” said Rasmi Kanta Nanda, her father, an IT architect.