Athletics
Krishna Jayashankar becomes 2nd Indian woman shot-putter to touch 15m mark
Tamil Nadu's 19-year-old shot-putter Krishna Jayashankar claimed a silver medal in Alabama by touching the 15m mark and set the Asian best for this season so far.
Shotput athlete Krishna Jayashankar of the University of Texas at El Paso (Source: Twitter)
All of 19, Krishna Jayashankar created history as she became only the second Indian woman shot put athlete to touch the 15m mark, after Manpreet Kaur.
Competing at the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, the academic and sports scholarship student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) won the silver medal at the event and also set an Asian best for this season on Sunday.
Hailing from Tamil Nadu, Jayashankar also made this throw, precisely 15m, her personal best as well in the Women's indoor shot put category. Only Manpreet Kaur had breached the 15m mark before her when she had thrown the shot put 15.21m at Doha in 2016.
At the Alabama event, Iceland's Erna Gunnarsdottir (16.79m) took gold while Cayman Islands' Lacee Barnes (14.86m) finished third.
Jayashankar, who is also a discus athlete, is on a Rs 1.5 crores scholarship at the University of Texas at El Paso currently and she is the first Indian woman thrower, the first female athlete from Tamil Nadu, the second female track and field athlete from India after Lizabeth Karoline (Triple Jumper) to bag this prestigious scholarship.
Currently, Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands holds the top spot in the furthest throws of the season with a whopping record of 19.72m. In the last 6 years, nobody has touched this far a distance with a shot put throw than this Dutch athlete.
