New Delhi: Lalita Babar won the gold in the 3000m steeplechase event while Sudha Singh's finishing time of 9:31.86 seconds was good enough for her to make the cut for the Rio Olympics in the same event at the 20th Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championship in progress at the JLN Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. Both the athletes are fully supported by the JSW Sports Excellence Program.
The 26-year-old Lalita recorded a time of 9:27.09 seconds to erase her previous National Record (NR) set in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase at the 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championship and coasted to the Gold medal in a show of complete dominance.
The 29-year-old Sudha who has already qualified for the Rio 2016 women's marathon put in a determined display to record a new Personal Best (PB) while on her way to the Silver. The qualification mark for the 3000m steeplechase for the Rio Olympics was set at 9:45.00 seconds.
The gulf in class between the two JSW-backed runners and the rest of the field was immense, as illustrated by the timing of the eventual Bronze medallist Parul Chaudhary who finished the race in 10:47:49 seconds, more than one full minute behind Lalita and Sudha.
Interestingly, Lalita has also qualified for the women's marathon at the Rio Olympics. OP Jaisha, another JSW-supported athlete could not manage to make the cut for the Rio Games in the 1500 meters, finishing with a time of 4:18.69 seconds but with the Olympic mark set at 4:07.00 seconds, missed out on bagging a spot. Jaisha has already secured qualification in the women's marathon at the Rio Olympics.
An ecstatic Sudha Singh said, "We had put in a lot of hard work, working on our speed and race tactics first in Ooty and then in Bengaluru. Working with Dr. Snesarev has been a wonderful experience and one that all of us have benefited immensely from. Our timings are testament to the fact that we are on the right track as far as our Rio preparations are concerned,".
Lalita, the 2015 Asian Champion in the 3000m steeplechase, said that she was very happy with her rhythm and the way she approached the race. "We have spent a lot of time working on getting the rhythm and the pacing just right and it all came together wonderfully well today," she said.
