KM Deeksha breaks National Record in women's 1500m event
K.M. Deeksha scripted history on Saturday as she broke the Indian national women’s record in the 1500m event during the Sound Running Track Festival in Los Angeles.
Deeksha set a new record by running the distance in 4:04.78. The previous record was set by Harmilan Bains (4:05:39) in 2021 at the National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal.
Prior to Bains, Sunita Rani held the national record of 4:06:03 for 19 years, made at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. Earlier, Deeksha notched her best score of 4:06.07 in the final of the National Inter-State Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar in 2023.
Deeksha defeated Bains to clinch the gold medal. Meanwhile, Paul Chaudhary fell agonizingly short of breaching her national record in the women’s 5000m at Los Angeles. She clocked a timing of 15:10.69 to secure the fifth spot, while Ankita stood at 10th spot with a timing of 15:28.88.
Avinash Sable came second in the men’s 5000m with a timing of 13:30.37
Indian athletes who have secured a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 saw as many as 124 Indian athletes participating to win medals for the country. The Indian contingent for the Paris 2024 is likely to be a bigger this time.
Bhowneesh Mendiratta bagged India first quota place at the ISSF world championships. As far as athletics is concerned, Priyanka Goswami and Akshdeep Singh were the first ones to earn qualification for the mega event.
As many as seven Indian athletics have breached the Paris Olympic qualification mark in the men’s 20km race walk. However, each national federation are allowed to send three athletics in the event.
Murali Sreeshankar helped India bag a quota after he breached the qualifying standards in the men’s long jump. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t be competing at Paris Olympics 2024 due to a knee injury.
Asian champion Aman Sehrawat is the latest to secure a quota at the Paris Olympics 2024 in the men’s 57kg freestyle category. With that, he became the first male Indian wrestler to secure a quota for India.