Asian Championships medallist Abha Khatua broke the national record in women’s shot put with a throw of 18.41m at the National Federation Cup Athletics competition in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Abha, representing Maharashtra, went past Manpreet Kaur’s record of 18.06m that she achieved in 2022. Last year, Abha had equalled the national mark at the Asian Championships in Bangkok. This was her third competition of the year. Earlier, she had recorded throws of 16.59m at Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru and 17.56m at Indian Open Throws meet.
Kiran Baliyan of Uttar Pradesh came a distant second with a throw of 16.54m.
The shot putter would take confidence from her performance on Monday as she was looking to achieve the qualification standard for Paris Olympics (18.80m).
“I am very happy with my throw today. The qualifying mark for the Paris Olympics is 18.80m and unfortunately my throw of 18.85 was a foul, so I am bit sad about it. I can still do it. There is Inter-state competition and two Grand Prix events where I will try to qualify for Paris,” said Abha, who hails from West Bengal but represents Maharashtra.
Continuing her impressive season, Nayana James of Kerala won the long jump gold with a fifth attempt of 6.53m. Nayana had jumped 6.67m in March, the third biggest jump by an Indian woman, behind Anju Bobby George and her trainee Shaili Singh. Nayana, however, is some distance off the Paris Olympics qualification standard of 6.86m.
Shaili finished second with a fourth attempt of 6.34m. The 2021 world junior silver medallist looked far from her best and struggled with her run-up, especially with her second and third attempts. Shaili, whose personal best of 6.76m came last year, is 39th in the Road to Paris 24 rankings and needs some good jumps in international meets to rise to the top 32 for Paris qualification by ranking.
In the men’s long jump qualification, Jeswin Aldrin jumped 7.63m to finish fifth. The national record holder’s (8.42m) best this season in four meets is 7.83m. In the absence of Murali Sreeshankar, who will miss the Paris Olympics following a knee injury that required surgery, Aldrin needs to step up if he has to qualify. Aditya Kumar Singh of Madhya Pradesh topped the qualification (7.73m).
In the men’s 200m final, Animesh Kujur of Odisha came close to the national mark, clocking 20.62 seconds. The national record is held by Amlan Borgohain (20.52secs). Nalubothu Shanumaga (20.97secs) of Andhra Pradesh and Jay Shah (21.31s) of Maharashtra came second and third respectively.
Wednesday’s final day of competitions will have the highlight of the meet when Neeraj Chopra enters the men’s javelin. He and India No.2 Kishore Jena have been given direct into the final. Chopra will compete in India for the first time in three years, since he became an Olympic champion. He is coming from the Doha Diamond League where he finished second on Friday with a throw of 88.36m. Jena was ninth in that meet (76.31m).
The Athletics Federation of India said javelin throwers who have crossed 75m will directly enter the final round. The other three throwers for the final will be decided in the qualifying round.
With DP Manu, the other 80-plus thrower in the country, also competing, a cracker of a show is expected at the Kalinga Stadium.
“I’m competing in India after three years. So, please come in large numbers and support Indian athletes,” Chopra said in a social media post.
