Sudha seals London spot; Mayookha strikes gold
Asian Ga-mes gold medallist Sudha Singh qualified for the London Olympics in 3000M steeplechase after breaking her national record in the VIII meeting Iberoamericano de Atletismo championship here on Thursday.
The 25-year-old Indian, who had missed the Olympic qualification mark in Shanghai Diamond League by a little over one second last month, clocked 9:47.70, going under the Olympic B standard of 9:48.00. She finished 11th in the race won by Ethiopian Etenesh Diro in 9:21.54. Sudha had timed 9:49.25 at the Shanghai Diamond League.
Sudha’s was her seventh national record in five years. Her first record came in Jamshedpur nationals when she bettered Tamil Nadu athlete Shanthi Soundararajan’s mark by nearly 26 seconds.
Sudha also became the Asian Games champion at Guangzhou in a time of 9:55.67. Currently based in Italy, she is training under famous Italian coach Claudio Berardelli.
Mayookha wins
Meanwhile, reigning Asian champion Mayookha Johny came up with her season’s best performance to win an international competition in Rhede, Germany, but missed out on Olympic qualification.
Mayookha, who has already qualified for the Olympics in triple jump, kicked the sand at 6.60M.
The Olympic ‘B’ standard is 6.65 metres while Mayookha has a personal best of 6.64 metres.
Among other Indian athletes who have already qualified for the Games, shot putter Om Prakash Singh Karhana surpassed the 20M-mark when he registered 20.04 metres in his training-base at Szombathely, Hungary, on Wednesday.
He had competed in a meet in Vienna on May 29, winning the gold with a distance of 19.82M.
