No Indian qualifies for World Athletics Championships in the inter-state meet on Wednesday
The winners at the inter-state Athletic tournament on Wednesday fell short of the qualifying mark for the World Championships to be held in Doha later in the year. Arpinder Singh came the closest to the mark after he fell just 12 cm short of the required triple-jump even though he won the gold.
With less than a month to go for the World Athletics Championships in Doha scheduled to be held from the 27th of September to the sixth of October, the Indian athletes failed to book their spots in the same on the second day of the 59th National Inter-State Athletics Championship taking place in Lucknow.
Arpinder Singh won the gold medal in the triple-jump category after recording a winning jump of 16.83m, just 12 cm short of the mark set for the World Championships at 16.95m. The 26-year-old has in the past breached the mark, with his personal best in 2014 being an impressive 17.17m. The Asian Games gold medallist was followed by U Karthik and Mohammed Salahuddin, who finished second and third respectively with jumps of 16m and 16.79m.
In the men’s 200m, Balakumar Nithin ran away with the gold after he clocked 20.91 seconds, the third-fastest by an Indian in the event in the ongoing year. However, he fell way short of the qualification mark set at 20.40. Meanwhile, Alex Antony recorded his personal-best of 46.17 seconds to claim the top position for himself in the 400m.
Among the foreign athletes, who were a part of the event courtesy Athletic Federation of India’s invitations, Iranian Mahdi Pirjahan set a new meet record of 49.33 seconds in the 400m hurdles.
PU Chithra won the gold in the 800m sprint for women with a personal best time of 2:02.96 whereas Mohammed Afsal claimed the corresponding position in the male category, with the season-best by an Indian as he recorded a time of 1:48.35.
The Indian athletes will get one final shot to qualify for the world event when they’ll take the field in the Indian Grand Prix to be held in the national capital in the first week of September.