Calcutta: Shot-putter Manpreet Kaur of Railways smashed a 17-year-old national record to win gold and qualify for the Rio Olympics on the opening day of the 55th National Open Athletics Championships, at the SAI Complex, on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old, who had the previous best of 16.39 at last year's Nationals, threw 17.96m in her second attempt to eclipse Harbans Kaur's national record of 17.43m that was set in November 1997.
This was Manpreet's hat-trick of gold medals at the Nationals and sixth overall as she also got past the Olympic qualification mark of 17.80m.
Long-distance runner O.P. Jaisha, who has already booked a berth in marathon for the Rio Games, set a meet record in 5000m, clocking 15:31.73. The Railways athlete bettered Preeja Sreedharan's mark of 15:45.96 that was established in October 2007.
Sarita Singh bagged Railways the third gold of the day when she threw 58.97m in the hammer throw, while Sonam of LIC and Gunjan Singh of Railways bagged silver and bronze, respectively.
Jaisha, however, fell short of the 15:20.00 qualification mark for the Rio Olympics. She blamed it on the rain-drenched track. Her event was scheduled to start at 6 am but due to overnight rain, it began after a 28-minute delay.
Jaisha, who broke the national marathon record of 2:34.43 to finish 18th at the World Championships in Beijing recently, said: "I'm satisfied with my performance given the conditions. I returned to the track after a long time as this was my first 5000m event after the National Games earlier this year. I've been training only for the marathon now...
"I'm focused on 5000m and 10000m now. There's no more championship left on the Indian athletics calendar. Hopefully, I'll be able to participate in foreign competitions to get to the mark."
Jaisha said she's grateful to national athletics coach Nikolai Snesarev for her success.
The day also marked the return of Odisha sprinter Dutee Chand, who represented Railways, as she easily qualified for the 100m semi-finals.
Dutee, who had won 100m and 200m double in 2013 Nationals and has been allowed by the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport to compete in national and international meets, looked in her elements as she clocked 11.94 seconds and was more than 10 metres ahead of second-placed Sini S of Services in the semi-finals.
"I have got the support of all concerned during my bad times and that has helped me to stay positive," said Dutee. "I'm looking forward to the finals... My aim is to qualify for the Rio Olympics and make it to the sports ministry's ambitious Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)."
The qualification for the Rio Olympics is 11.32 seconds, which she hopes to achieve in the coming months. Dutee now trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy under Nagapuri Ramesh, a Hyderabad-based coach. "Ramesh has been my coach since 2012. The infrastructure at the Gopichand Academy has been of great help... I'm also staying there and can avail of the swimming pool and gym facilities."
