Sudha qualifies for London Olympics in 3000m steeplechase
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The 25-year-old Indian, who barely missed the Olympic qualification mark in Shanghai Diamond League last month, showed tremendous form to clock an impressive 9:47.70 seconds which earned her the Olympic B-grade.
By
clocking 9:47.70 secs in Huelva on Thursday night, Sudha broke her
9:49.25 secs national record set at the Shanghai Diamond League, a
statement from the Athletics Federation of India said.
Like
in Shanghai, Sudha once again finished 11th in the race which was
eventually won by Ethiopian Etenesh Diro with a timing of 9:21.54 secs.
Sudha's
9:47.70 secs timing set in Huelva was her seventh national record in
five years. Her first record came in Jamshedpur nationals when she
bettered controversial Tamil Nadu athlete Shanthi Soundararajan's
previous mark by nearly 26 secs.
After
improving the record twice, Sudha lost it briefly in 2010 to training
partner O P Jaisha during the inter-state meet at Patiala, but
recaptured in style during her fifth place finish at the 2010
Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Sudha also became the inaugural Asian Games champion in the steeplechase event at Guangzhou with a time of 9:55.67 secs.
After
her stint with the Belarus coach Nikolai Snesarev, Sudha along with
Jaisha and two other long distance runners -- Kavita Raut and Preeja
Sreedharan -- received training under Claudio Berardelli since late
2011.
Meanwhile,
reigning Asian champion in long jump Mayookha Johny has won an
international competition in Rhede, Germany, last evening by
successfully jumping to 6.60m.
Having
already qualified for the London Games in the triple jump event,
Mayookha is desperately trying to attain the norm in long jump as well
but was 5 cm short of the requirement.
Among
other Indian athletes who have already qualified for the quadrennial
sporting extravaganza, shot putter Om Prakash Singh Karhana surpassed
the 20-mark when he registered 20.04m in his training-base at
Szombathely, Hungary, on Wednesday.
Singh
tossed the iron ball to an incredible distance of 20.69m there on May
12 and won an international meet in Vienna, Austria, with 19.82m on May
29.
Discus
thrower Krishna Poonia, after finishing fourth in the Prefontine
Classic in Eugene on June 1 with a throw of 62.11m, improved her
performance at Portland where she won a silver medal at the Post Pre
Elite Women's event hurling the discuss to 62.34m.
The Commonwealth champion registered her personal best of 64.76m at the Hawaiian island of Wailuku last month.
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