Lalita Breaks National Record to Qualify For Steeplechase Final

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 13: Woman steeplechaser Lalita Babar clipped almost seven seconds off the existing national mark in the qualifiers to make a storming entry into the final of the gruelling event in the Olympic Games here today, but compatriot Sudha Singh fell by the wayside and exited.

Lalita, hailing from Satara district of Maharashtra, qualified for the women’s 3000m steeplechase final after finishing fourth in the qualifying heat 2 with a new national record time of 9 minutes, 19.76 seconds while the holder of that mark, compatriot Sudha Singh, was eliminated after a poor run in heat 3.

The Indian agony continued further in the women’s 400m as Nirmala Sheoran came a cropper with a below par performance in Heat 1 of the event.

When it comes to Indian athletes, Milkha Singh and PT Usha always come into the picture. He was also doing the 50 kilometre events before focusing on shorter distance for the Olympics. Just after that, Babar switched to running the 3000m steeplechase with the focus to win medals in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Lalita was the fastest among the losers and confirmed her qualification.

After two foul jumps, the 24-yar-old Ankit registered the only valid jump of 7.67, which was his worst in recent times.

Lalita clinched the bronze at the 2014 Asian Games, that were held in Incheon, with a timing of 9:35.37. There are others who would also be in action on Day 8. She has held the national record for almost seven years.

In men’s 400 metres, Muhammed Anas clocked 45.95 seconds as he placed sixth in his race and 31st overall from among 50. However, she ended up missing out on a medal spot by the slimmest of margins – a hundredth of a second.