Abha Khatua has shattered the national shot-put record. The Bengal girl who was competing for Maharashtra emerged as India’s finest athlete. She broke the national record for women’s shot-put on the second day of the National Senior Federation athletics championship. Khatua was the top female athlete going into the event and rightly so. Khatua set the mark at 18.41m at the Kalinga stadium. She became the sole owner of the record, beating the one that was held jointly by her and Manpreet Kaur.
National Record For Khatua
The 28-year-old improved tremendously from the previous record which was 18.06. After she made the shot, Khatua told the reporters “At the IGP in Bengaluru, I didn’t get the correct shot”. This time she got everything and the national record set by her is truly special. She is India’s best shot put athlete at the moment . But despite this, her effort is well short of the Olympic qualifying mark of 18.80. Khatua will have to do much better if she wants to qualify for the Paris Olympics this summer. She has said that her target for this year is to throw upto 18.90 metres and she is confident about the fulfillment of this goal.
Abha’s Olympic Aspirations
The 28-year-old is a native of the Khurshi village near Narayangarh town in West Midnapur district. The small town girl confessed after the meet that she is a huge fan of Ryan Crouser. Crouser is a two-time Olympic gold medallist and three-time world. Last year she had won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Bangkok. Khatua threw it for 18.85 in her third attempt but it was declared as a foul throw. She is slowly but surely edging towards securing a place in the Olympics. India’s future in the sport of Shot-Put looks bright. Khatua will most certainly look forward to sealing a spot in the Olympics and make India proud through this extraordinary ordeal.
