Another Chance To Grab Rio Berth, 2nd Indian GP Starts on Friday

Indian athletes have another chance to make the Rio 2016 cut in the second Indian GP, scheduled to start on Friday.

Dutee Chand created a new national record in the recently concluded Federation Cup in Delhi (Photo: IANS)

Indian athletes have another chance to grab an Olympic berth as the second Indian Grand Prix kicks off on Friday at the NIS Patiala Stadium.

The event comes in after the first Indian GP Series and the Federation Cup which were held on 24 April and 28-30 April respectively at the JLN Stadium, Delhi.

Expectations are high from sprinter Dutee Chand, who created a new National Record in the women’s 100 metres sprint, clocking 11.33s on the opening day of the Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championships.

20-year-old Chand smashed 16-year-old Rachita Mistry’s record (11.38s), but missed the 2016 Olympics qualification berth by a hundredth of a second. The Rio qualification mark for women’s 100m is 11.32s.

In the men’s category Rajiv Arokia created the National record in men’s 400m event clocking 45.47s to erase the 12-year-old mark of 45.48s created by KM Binu in 2004. While in women’s 400m event Anilda Thomas clocked 52.40s to finish first in the Federation Cup but both missed the Olympics qualification mark of 45.40s and 52.20s respectively.

Another highlight of the event would be ace discus thrower Krishna Poonia, the first Indian women to win a Gold Medal in athletics at the Commonwealth Games, who finished sixth in the 2012 London Olympics and is returning to action after a gap of two years, post-surgery.

Though she couldn’t qualify in the first leg of Indian GP and Federation Cup earlier, Poonia will be competing be part of the Rio contingent.

Overall, more than 130 athletes are expected to take part in 18 events in the second leg of Indian GP.

(With inputs from PTI.)