Indian men's 4x400m relay team gets closer to Olympic berth
The Indian men's 4x400m relay team enhanced its chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics with a 3:01.89 time on the opening day of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Patiala on Friday. Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Arokia Rajiv, and Noah Nirmal Tom took the track with the singular aim of improving the team's time from 3:02.61 in the Indian Grand Prix IV.
Indian team is currently on thirteenth spot
The team's timing on Friday would lift it from sixteenth on the road to Tokyo to thirteenth. The top sixteen teams will compete in all the relay events in the Tokyo Olympics which opens on July 23. The qualification deadline is June 29. An Indian team had clocked 3:02.59 in Turkey in 2019, which had left it in sixteenth place in the rankings.
Women's relay team fell 0.45 seconds short of qualification mark
The women's 4x100m relay team, chasing the magical mark of 43.05 seconds to attain qualification for the Olympics, was 0.45 seconds short in the heats. The team, which set a national record of 43.47 seconds in the Indian Grand Prix 4 on Monday, was credited with a time faster than the meet record (45.69) standing in the name of Tamil Nadu.
Parul Chaudhary defended her women's 5000m race title
The relay quartet comprised Archana Suseendran, Hima Das, S Dhanalakshmi, and Dutee Chand. Both the relay finals will be held on the final day on Tuesday. Meanwhile, two months after recovering from COVID-19 infection, distance runner Parul Chaudhary defended her women's 5000m race title.
Parul clocked 16 minutes 4.07 seconds
The first day witnessed six finals at two venues -- at NIS and Punjabi University grounds -- and none of the competing athletes in the individual events were Olympic hopefuls. Chaudhary, who had contracted the virus in April at the Sports Authority of India's Bengaluru Centre, won the race, clocking 16 minutes 4.07 seconds at the NIS tracks in Patiala.
However, it was well below the Olympic qualifying standard
The Uttar Pradesh athlete's timing was, however, well below the Olympic qualifying standard of 15 minutes 10 seconds. C Kanimozhi, who clocked a personal best of 13.63 in the 100m hurdles in the Federation Cup in March, held off a challenge by Agasara Nandini to win the race. The Tamil Nadu girl improved on her own career best from 13.88 to 13.70.
Results of other competitions
Sri Lanka's WVL Sugandi had to settle for third place behind the two Indians who have battled for the 100m hurdles prize this year. Vikram Bharatsingh Bangriya won the grueling men's 10000m race from Kartik Kumar. Returning to competition after nearly two years, Manju Bala (Rajasthan) claimed the hammer throw gold with a 61.08m effort on her fifth try at the Punjabi University ground.
