Abha Khatua hopeful of breaching automatic qualifying mark for Paris Olympics

CHENNAI: Paris-bound women’s shot-putter Abha Khatua had a quiet day at the Indian Grand Prix (IGP) II at the Jawaharlal Nehru Outdoor Stadium here on Thursday. The 29-year-old from Maharashtra registered 17.13m to clinch the top spot in the three-member field.

Abha entered the competition after breaching the national record (18.41m) at the Federation Cup a few weeks back. With less time for recovery, Abha felt fatigued.

“I could not give my best here, as I hardly had time for recovery after the Federation Cup. Initially, the IGP II was not part of my schedule, but I wanted to gain as many points as possible in the ‘Road to Paris’ ranking list,” said Abha.

The weather in the evening was hot and humid and Abha had to bear the brunt. She started the competition by recording close to 16m and gradually improved her performance by hitting 17m mark twice. In the sixth and final attempt, Abha came up with the best performance. In between the attempts, she was seen taking inputs from her coach.

“The temperature was pretty hot and I am not used to throwing in these conditions. The temperature in Patiala (her training base) is similar, however there is not much humidity. Also, the throwing circle was slow here, and I had to adapt,” Abha added.

Abha is 27th in the ‘Road to Paris’ list, with 32 players making the final cut. “I will compete at IGP III in Bengaluru on June 12th and head for the Inter-State Athletics Meet from June 26 to 30. I hope to breach the Olympic qualifying mark (18.80m) at the Inter States Athletics meet in June. At the Federation Cup, I hit the 18.85m mark, but it was a foul throw. I have the potential to cross 18.80m and I wish to qualify for Paris by crossing the automatic qualification mark.”

Abha is well within reach to qualify for the quadrennial extravaganza for the first time. A few more good performances will help her stay within the top-32 in the world rankings.


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