Chennai
The second leg of One-Day Indian Grand Prix scheduled to be held at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be a good chance for aspiring athletes to make the cut for the Paris Olympic Games before the June 30 deadline.
The athletes can earn tickets to the 2024 Olympics either through automatic qualification standard or World Athletics ranking system in their respective events.
Till date more than 10 Indian athletes, including Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra, have achieved Paris Olympic Games automatic qualification standard, in their respective events.
The second leg of IGP has attracted a number of promising athletes either aiming for an automatic qualification in their respective events, or improving personal best to earn valuable points and stay on course to board flight to compete at the Paris Olympic Games starting July 26.
Tamil Nadu’s 26 years old Asian medalist, Santosh Kumar T, fresh from winning gold in men’s 400m hurdles (50.04 seconds) at the just concluded National Federation Senior Athletics Competition held in Bhubaneswar, will certainly look forward to breaking the 50 seconds barrier in low hurdles on Thursday. “It’s important to dip below 50 seconds in the 400m hurdles to stay in the race to earn a ticket to the Paris Olympic Games,” Santosh said after winning gold in Bhubaneswar.
The men’s 400m hurdles will be the first track event of the One-Day meet in Chennai.
As per the entries, Santosh has also confirmed his participation in the 400m flat.
The automatic Paris Olympic Games qualification time in men’s 400m hurdles is 48.70 seconds. The qualification time in women’s 400m hurdles is 54.85 seconds.
Kerala’s international low hurdler MP Jabir will also be in action in Chennai. He will also compete in both 400m flat and 400m hurdles, as per entries.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, second track event of the day, the main focus will be on Tamil Nadu’s Asian Games medalist, Vithya Ramraj.
In the men’s triple jump, Abdulla Aboobacker and Karthik U have confirmed their entries. The automatic qualification mark in men’s triple jump is 17.22m.
In the women’s 400m flat, Kerala’s international quarter miler, Jisna Mathew, will be battling for top spot with Maharashtra’s Aishwarya Mishra. The Paris Olympic Games qualification time in women’s 400m is 50.95 seconds.
Spotlight will also be on Maharashtra’s shot putter Abha Khatua, who improved national record to 18.41m during a domestic meet earlier in May in Bhubaneswar. The automatic qualification mark in women’s shot put is 18.80m.
