Athletics
National Inter-State Athletics Meet: Hima Das injured, Relay team within sight for Olympic qualification
An update on the ongoing Fast and Up Interstate Atheltic Championships being held at the NIS, Patiala.
One of the last few sporting events that are left with qualifications for the Tokyo Olympics is Athletics. At the ongoing National State Championships at the NIS in Patiala, several athletes have been battling it out to meet the respective criteria for qualification to the Olympics. We take a look at a few updates from the event.
The Indian Men's 4x400m quartet used the opportunity well to build on their chances of qualification. With a combined timing of 3:01:89, it ensured that its ranking jumped from 16th to 13th amongst all the qualifying nations. This was a major change from the timing they achieved at the Indian Grand Prix. The team of Amod Jacob, Muhammad Anas, Noah Nirmal Tom, and Arokia Rajiv showed a significant improvement from the earlier 3:02:61 timing they clocked. The also set a new record in the event that had stood for 15 years.
The finest of margins continued to prevent the women's 100m relay team from qualifying for the Olympics. The team comprising Hima Das, Dutee Chand, Dhanalakshmi and Archana Suseendaran finished the race with a timing of 43.05 seconds and missed out on the required timing of 43.50 seconds. This year also witnessed some surprise participants with Sri Lanka and the Maldives sending their women's 100m team to compete. The team from Sri Lanka even bettered the Indian record with their timing of 45.30 seconds.
A notable event was that Amasha De Silva from Sri Lanka beat Hima Das and Dhanalakshmi in the 3rd heat of the 100m women's event. She clocked a total of 11.64 seconds that was better than the timing of Dhanalakshmi(11.67) and Hima Das(12.01).
However, Hima Das will not be competing at any more events as she has been ruled out with a hamstring injury that she sustained in the 100m heats. This has now been a major cause of concern for the women's relay team in their qualification for the Olympics.
In another Olympic qualifying event, the men's 100m sprinter Amiya Mallick clocked in 10:50s in the heats to qualify for the finals. The Olympic qualification mark stands at 10.05 seconds and he will be looking to better the timing in the finals.
Vikram Bhangriya clocked 16:44 in the 10000m race. The women's 100m hurdles saw Kanimozhi C of Tamil Nadu win the gold with a timing of 13.66 seconds that was just milliseconds ahead of 2nd placed Agsara Nandini(13.70).
Hammer throw was won by Manju Bala with a throw of 61.08m while Shekhar Kumar vaulted a height of 4.80 m to claim the Gold Medal.
