Bhubaneswar, May 12
Defending champion and national record holder Vithya Ramraj pulled out of the women’s 400m hurdles event due to back pain as the Federation Cup made a low-key start. Vithya, part of the Indian women’s 4x400m relay squad that booked a Paris Olympics berth in Bahamas recently, pulled out immediately after the start of the final race on the opening day.
Deeksha sets new Indian record in 1500m
New Delhi: KM Deeksha set a new national record in the women’s 1500m event while Avinash Sable finished second in the men’s 5000m event at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old Deeksha finished third in the final on Saturday after running the distance in 4 minutes, 4.78 seconds, bettering the previous record of 4:05.39 set by Harmilan Bains in 2021. PTI
Veerpal Kaur of Punjab won the gold medal with a very slow time of 59.43 seconds. Salini Valupararambil of Kerala was second with a time of 1:00.73, while Ramandeep Kaur of Punjab took the third spot in 1:01.29.
Vithya had equalled the legendary PT Usha’s 400m hurdles national record of 55.42 seconds during the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October last year. The 25-year-old had run the first leg of the first round but was replaced in the second round by Rupal Chaudhary in the World Relays in Nassau.
“There is some back pain. There is also jet lag as we returned from Bahamas just a few days ago,” Vithya said.
Jyothika Sri Dandi, another member of the relay squad, said, “It was an intense training and competition (for one month in Bahamas). So, we are kind of taking time to get into another competition.”
Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.