FULL NAME: Manisha Merel
GENDER: Female
BORN: 5th July, 2001 (Source: Athletics Federation of India)
PARENTS: Father (C Merel), Mother ()
HOME ADDRESS: Keonjhar, Odisha, India
ACADEMIC EDUCATION: Studied Political Science at Maharshi Dayanand Junior College, Sundargarh, Odisha
EVENTS PURSUED: 100m sprint and long jump
TRAINING PLACE: Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar
RECEIVED COACHING FROM: Not known
UNITS REPRESENTED IN STATE MEET: KIIT, Sambalpur University and Odisha
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS:
STATE:
* Won the long jump gold with New Meet Record (5.94m) and 100m silver in girls-20 age group of the 67th Odisha State Athletics Meet, held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack from 28-30 December, 2019. Also bagged the prize as best female athlete of the meet.
* Bagged a double, winning gold medal in U-20 girls 100m sprint and long jump events of the 66th Odisha State Athletics Meet, held at Cuttack from Dec 28-30, 2018.
* Bagged a double by winning gold medals in U-18 girls 100m sprint and long jump events of the 65th Odisha State Athletics Championship, held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack from Dec 28-30, 2017. Also established new meet record in long jump.
* Won the gold medal in U-18 girls’ long jump and silver in 100m sprint events of the 64th Odisha State Athletics Championship, held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack from April 2-4, 2017.
* Bagged a double by winning the 100m and long jump titles in girls-16 category of the 63rd Odisha State Athletics Meet, held at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack, from Dec 28 to 30, 2015.
ZONAL:
* Won one silver medal each in girls-20 yrs 100m sprint and 4x100m relay and one bronze in girls-18 long jump events of the 31st East Zone Junior Athletics Championship, held at Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand on 14-15 Sept, 2019.
* One Gold medal each in U-18 girls 100m sprint and Medlay Relay and one Silver in long jump events of the 30th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship, held at Patna, Bihar on Sept 15 and 16, 2018.
* Won the bronze medal in girls long jump event of the 15th Youth (U-18) National Athletics Championship, held at Vadodara, Gujrat from July 21-23, 2018.
* Two gold and one silver medals in u-18 girls‘ group of the 29th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship, held at SAI Complex in Kolkata on Sept 17-18, 2017.
* Gold medal in girls-16 long jump (5.13m) event of the 28th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship, held at Guwahati, Assam on Sept 10 and 11, 2016.
* Silver medal in girls-14 long jump (4.88m) event of the 25th East Zone Junior Athletics Championship held at Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi from August 17 to 19, 2013.
NATIONAL:
* Won the womens 4x100m relay Bronze medal in the 63rd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, Haryana on 28 June 2024.
* Won the women long jump Silver medal at the 2nd Indian Open Jumps Competition in Bellari, Karnataka on 2 March 2023.
* Won the womens long jump Bronze medal at the National Open U-23 Athletics Championship in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh on 31 October 2022.
* Bagged U-20 girls long-jump Silver medal in the 36th National Junior Athletics Championship at Sarusajai Stadium in Guwahati, Assam on 6 February, 2021.
* Won women long jump Sold medal (6.22m) for Sambalpur University at the 1st Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneswar on 28 Feb, 2020.
* Won Bronze medal with an effort of 6.20m in the All-India Inter-University Athletics Championship in January, 2020.
* Won Silver medal in girls-20 long jump event of the 35th National Junior Athletics Championships in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh on 2 Nov, 2019.
* Won the Bronze medal in U-21 girls long jump event of the 2nd Khelo India Youth Games at Pune on 12th January, 2019.
* Won one Bronze medal each in U-18 girls 100m and long jump events of the 34th National Junior Athletics Championship, held at Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium in Ranchi from Nov 2-5, 2018.
* Won the Silver medal in girls’ long jump event of the 16th Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championship, held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore (TN) from April 20-22, 2018.
* Won one Bronze medal in girls’ long jump event (5.46m) of the 14th Youth National Athletics Championship, held at GMC Balayogi Stadium, Hyderabad from April 21-23, 2017.
* Won the Silver medal in U-16 girls’ long jump event with a leap of 5.42 metre Odisha in the 32nd Junior National Athletics Championship, held at Nehru Stadium , Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) from Nov 10 to 14, 2016.
MISCELLANEOUS
* Secured 1st position in womens long jump at the Indian Open Athletics Meet, held at Patliputra Stadium in Patna, Bihar on 19 July 2025.
* Secured 1st position in womens long jump event of the Indian Open Athletics Meet, held at Savitribai Phule Pune University Sports Complex in Pune on 12 July 2025.
* Won the Silver medal in 4x100m mixed relay event of the 2nd Indian Open Relay Carnival 2025, held at the Sector-7 Sports Complex in Chandigarh on 30 April 2025.
* Won the womens long jump Silver medal for Sambalpur University in the 4th Khelo India University Games at IG Athletics Stadium in Guwahati on 26 February 2024.
* Won the womens long jump Gold medal at the 3rd Khelo India University Games in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on 30 May 2023.
* Won the long jump Bronze medal for Sambalpur University with an effort of 5.93m at the 82nd All India Inter University Athletics Championships at Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University, Chennai on 15 March 2023.
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
* She was conferred with MB Memorial-Anuradha Biswal Award along with a purse Rs 10,000 by Mukunda Baral Memorial Trust in Bhubaneswar on 10 August, 2019.
* Fifth and youngest of six children in her family, Merel tried her hand at football, kho kho, before finally settling on athletics.
* Spotted by various coaches at different levels she was enrolled in the SAI Academy in Sundargarh, when she was 10 and it was there that she refined her long jump.
* After being selected for Khelo India scholarship in 2019, she has been training at the Khelo India Academy in KIIT, Bhubaneswar, under the guidance of coach Sanjay Garnaik.
PROFILE FIRST UPLOADED: 10 September, 2013
PROFILE LAST UPDATED: 19 July 2025