Panchkula: The Athletics Federation of India has scheduled the 63rd National Inter-state Athletics Championships 2024 just a month before the Olympic Games to help the Indian athletes qualify and the move paid on the opening day itself with Kiran Pahal punching her ticket for Paris in women’s 400m.
The Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula erupted in joy as Kiran dipped below the qualifying mark in the semifinal of the event while Gulveer Singh improved the meet record in men’s 5000m.
Asian Games medalist Gulveer of Uttar Pradesh clocks 13:34.67 seconds in the men’s 5,000m to improve his meet record of 13:43.23 set last year in Bhubaneswar.
Kiran ran a blistering pace to clock 50.92 seconds to better the Paris Olympic Games qualification time of 50.95 on the opening day of the event.
With Thursday’s performance, Kiran has emerged as the second fastest Indian female 400m runner of all time. Hima Das holds the national record of 50.79 seconds clocked in 2018.
Kiran is the first Indian female quarter-miler to have qualified for the Olympic Games after a gap of eight years since Nirmal Sheoran (Haryana) qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Kiran was surprised to have clocked such a time in the semis on Thursday. The final scheduled for Friday will be an exciting event as Kiran plans to race faster than her semifinal time of 50.92 seconds.
“I will do better in the medal round,” Kiran was quoted as saying in a post-race interaction. She had clocked 52.33 seconds in her preliminary round.
Kiran’s flight to Paris has been a struggle and a lot of hard work. “That’s all past. I’m happy to achieve a good result today in Panchkula,” Kiran explained.
Subha V. of Tamil Nadu topped the first semis with a time of 53.08 seconds while Deepanshi of Haryana won the third semis with a time of 52.12 seconds.
The men’s 400m final will also be a mouth-watering contest as all top runners made it to the medal round. Muhammed Anas of Kerala was the fastest in the semis with a time of 45.76 seconds.
–IANS