Vikas Gowda qualifies for Rio Olympics

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

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Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda made the cut for the Rio Olympics on Thursday after the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) revised the entry standards for the next year’s jamboree. Nitender Singh Rawat in Marathon and National Games champion Sapna in 20km walk have also qualified for the Olympics after the revision of qualifying standards.

In an effort to give more athletes the opportunity to participate in Olympics, IAAF revised the qualifying standards in 17 events for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The IAAF council approved the entry standards in April 2015 but allowed for a review following IAAF World Championships Beijing, 2015 where a similar system of qualification and similar standards were used. At the IAAF Council Meeting On November 26. 2015 the standards for Rio Olympics were revised and approved.

With the entry cut-off coming down from 66 meters to 65 meters in discus throw, Vikas Gowda qualified with his effort of 65.14m at the Jamaican invitational meet in Kingston on May 9, 2015. Qualification for the Olympics started on May 1 this year for all other events except 10,000 m, Marathon, Race Walk and Combined Events for which the qualification period is from January 1,2015 to 11 July 2016.

Gowda, who is a Commonwealth Games champion and Asian Games silver medallist, finished eighth in the 2012 London Olympics with a throw of 64.79m. In the World Championships in Beijing this year, Gowda finished ninth with a throw of 62.24m. He has a season-best throw of 65.75 m and personal as well as national record of 66.28 m.

National Games champion Sapna has also received the benefits of the revision of qualifying standards. Sapna had finished fourth in this year's Asian 20 Km Race Walking championships at Nomi City (Japan) on 15th March, with a time of 1 hour 35 minutes 36 seconds, to qualify for Rio.

Nitender Singh Rawat, who clocked an impressive 2 hours 18 minutes 6 seconds to finish eighth in Marathon at the globally renowned World Military Games at Mungyeong (Korea) on 11th October, was the other athlete to gain a chance to represent India at the Olympics.

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