Indian Grand Prix 3: Abha Khatua, misses national mark, maintains good form with shot put title in Bengaluru

Bengaluru:  Asian Championship silver medallist Abha Khatua, who set a national record in the Federation Cup athletics last month, came up with a below-par effort to win the title in the Indian Grand Prix 3 2024 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Wednesday.

In men’s javelin throw, Sachin Yadav topped the standings after recording a personal best of 82.69m on his penultimate attempt. Rohit Yadav finished second with 75.52m while Asian Games silver medallist Kishore Jena did not start.

Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan also came up with personal best timings in the women’s 400m.

However, the focus was on Abha Khatua as she had set a national record of 18.41m in the women’s shot put at the Federation Cup athletics last month.

On Wednesday, Abha, an Asian Championships silver medallist, won the gold in the Indian Grand Prix 3 with a throw of 17.93m on her final attempt. Shiksha finished second with 15.38m while Ambika V recorded a 14.32m throw for the third spot.

Abha is yet to breach the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying mark of 18.80m but she is currently 27th in the Road to Paris rankings.

The top 32 eligible athletes as per rankings and the entry standard will make it to the women’s shot put event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Sachin Yadav topped the men’s javelin throw event with a personal best effort of 82.69m on his penultimate attempt. Rohit Yadav finished second with 75.52m.

The Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying standard in men’s javelin throw is 85.50m. Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena had breached the entry standard for the Paris 2024 Olympics last year.

Asian Athletics Championships bronze medallist Jyothika Sri Dandi clocked a personal best of 51.53s to win the women’s 400m final.

Tokyo Olympian Subha Venkatesan also logged a personal best of 52.34s to finish second. Meanwhile, Poovamma Raju Machettira was third in 52.62s.

Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan beat Asian Championships bronze medallist Nayana James in the final to win the women’s long jump title. Ancy recorded a 6.52m jump on her final attempt which helped her overcome Nayana’s 6.48m leap. Bhavani Yadav Bhagavat finished third with 6.27m.

–IANS