Athletics: Dharun Ayyasamy qualifies for World Championships with a National record

The 23rd Federation Cup lived up to its reputation on the second day of competition with eight athletes meeting the qualifying guidelines set by the Athletics Federation of India for the Asian Athletics Championships 2019. Dharun Ayyasamy managed to stand out as he shattered the national record in the men’s 400m hurdles at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. Ayyasamy clocked a time of 48.80 seconds to surpass the previous National record of 48.96 that he himself had recorded at the 2018 Asian Games. Ayyasamy’s effort was more than enough to meet the qualification standard of 50.00 for the Asian Championships set by the Athletics Federation of India.

“I can go even faster. My goal is to record a time of 48.50. Maybe I will do it at the Asian Championships,” Ayyasamy was quoted as saying by AFI after the race. Ayyasamy finished far ahead of the field with Kerala’s MP Jabir clocking a time of 49.53 seconds to claim the silver medal. Jabir though would be satisfied at having met the AFI’s qualifying guidelines. M Ramchandran of Tamil Nadu took the bronze medal with a time of 50.57. However, what also stood out about Dharun's performance was that he comfortably crossed the qualification mark for the IAAF World Championships which was set at 49.30s. Dharun was also a part of the 400m team that had traveled to Turkey in November 2018 for a training camp with a view to qualify for the World Championships in Doha later this year. Dharun's performance in 2019 has seen him emerge as a strong force in the 400m Hurdles discipline. In the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix, he had clocked 50.05s. The second leg of the Indian Grand Prix was an improvement on that performance which, after finishing with 49.94s, saw him qualify for the Asian Athletics Championship. He left all of that behind to continue raring on and book himself a place in the Worlds.