Asian Championships silver medallist Abha Khatua set a nationwide file en route a gold within the ladies’s shot put with an enormous throw of 18.41m in the course of the second day of the Nationwide Federation Cup Athletics Competitors right here on Monday.
Born in West Bengal however representing Maharashtra right here, Khatua was the joint file holder of 18.06m with Manpreet Kaur earlier than this occasion. However along with her fifth spherical hurl of 18.41m on the Kalinga Stadium, she turned the only real nationwide file holder.
Her effort was nicely wanting the Olympics qualifying mark of 18.80m, which no Indian girl has ever been in a position to attain. The qualifying window ends on June 30.
Uttar Pradesh’s Kiran Baliyan (16.54m) and Delhi’s Srishti Vig (15.86m) completed second and third respectively.
“My purpose is to throw 19m and qualify for the Paris Olympics. I nonetheless have time, I’ve two Indian Grand Prix occasions and the Nationwide Inter-State Championships (in June) to qualify for the Olympics,” she mentioned later.
The Paris Olympics qualifying window closes on June 30.
‘Ryan Crouser is my idol’
Talking to PTI final 12 months after equalling the then nationwide file of 18.06m, Khatua had credited her improved efficiency to a change in her method from gliding to rotation in 2022.
“This NR is due to the rotation method I learnt in 2022, and it’s but to be perfected. So, I’m assured that with additional enchancment in method, I can throw farther,” she mentioned.
Khatua mentioned the glide method she employed until 2022 wanted extra energy whereas rotation required extra pace and explosive energy.
“My weight is simply 83 or 84kg, glide method wants extra energy however rotation is all about pace and explosive energy which I’ve,” she mentioned.
“Ryan Crouser is my idol, and he has modified from glide to rotational method. I adopted his efficiency.”
The USA’s Crouser is the present males’s shot put world file holder with a throw of 25.36m.
A lot of the high shot putters on the earth make use of rotation method, and the coaches within the nationwide camp and the AFI had suggested her to vary from the glide method to rotation methodology.
In the meantime, within the males’s 200m last, Animesh Kujur of Odisha ran a powerful 20.62 seconds, one-tenth of a second off the two-year previous nationwide file of 20.52 seconds within the title of Amlan Borgohain.
Nalubothu Shanumaga (20.97) of Andhra Pradesh and Jay Shah (21.31) of Maharashtra had been second and third respectively.
4 years in the past
The 28-year-old Khatua, who hails from a poor household, began athletics when she was in seventh commonplace.
Born to a farmer father at Khurshi village close to Narayangarh city in West Bengal’s West Midnapur district, Khatua tried many athletics occasions earlier than settling for shot put 4 years in the past.
Initially, she dabbled in 100m, 200m, 400m, lengthy leap and javelin. She additionally participated in heptathlon in 2017-18 however since she was not good in excessive leap (one of many seven occasions in heptathlon), she shifted to shot put on the finish of 2018 and joined the nationwide camp at Patiala in 2019.
Nevertheless, 2021 proved to be a tricky interval in her life as she suffered from COVID-19, chikungunya and excessive uric acid. She additionally sustained an damage to her proper elbow which affected her efficiency within the Nationwide Inter-State meet.
She had additionally missed the Asian Video games after throwing 16.39m for a 3rd place end on the Nationwide Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar, which was the ultimate choice occasion.
Khatua later threw 18.06m to equal Manpreet Kaur’s nationwide file whereas profitable a silver medal within the Asian Championships in Thailand in July after which received the shot put occasion on the Indian Grand Prix 5 with an effort of 18.02m.
