Abha Khatua smashes national record in shot put

Asian Championships silver medallist Abha Khatua set national record en route a gold in women's shot put with a massive throw of 18.41m during the second day of the National Federation Cup Athletics Competition in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Born in West Bengal but representing Maharashtra, Khatua was the joint record holder of 18.06m with Manpreet Kaur before this event. But with her fifth round hurl of 18.41m at the Kalinga Stadium, she became the sole national record holder.

Her effort was well short of the Olympics qualifying mark of 18.80m, which no Indian woman has ever been able to reach. The qualifying window ends on June 30.

Uttar Pradesh's Kiran Baliyan (16.54m) and Delhi's Srishti Vig (15.86m) finished second and third respectively.

"My aim is to throw 19m and qualify for the Paris Olympics. I still have time, I have two Indian Grand Prix events and the National Inter-State Championships (in June) to qualify for the Olympics," she said later.

The Paris Olympics qualifying window closes on June 30.

Speaking to PTI last year after equalling the then national record of 18.06m, Khatua had credited her improved performance to a change in her technique from gliding to rotation in 2022.

"This NR is because of the rotation technique I learnt in 2022 and it is yet to be perfected. So, I am confident that with further improvement in technique, I can throw farther," she said.

Khatua said the glide technique she employed till 2022 needed more strength while rotation required more speed and explosive power.

"My weight is just 83 or 84kg, glide technique needs more strength but rotation is all about speed and explosive power which I have," she said.

"Ryan Crouser is my idol and he has changed from glide to rotational technique. I followed his performance."

The USA's Crouser is the current men's shot put world record holder with a throw of 25.36m.

Most of the top shot putters in the world employ rotation technique, and the coaches in the national camp and the AFI had advised her to change from the glide technique to rotation method.

Meanwhile, in the men's 200m final, Animesh Kujur of Odisha ran an impressive 20.62 seconds, one-tenth of a second off the two-year old national record of 20.52 seconds in the name of Amlan Borgohain.

Nalubothu Shanumaga (20.97) of Andhra Pradesh and Jay Shah (21.31) of Maharashtra were second and third respectively.

The 28-year-old Khatua, who hails from a poor family, started athletics when she was in seventh standard.

Born to a farmer father at Khurshi village near Narayangarh town in West Bengal's West Midnapur district, Khatua tried many athletics events before settling for shot put four years ago.

Initially, she dabbled in 100m, 200m, 400m, long jump and javelin. She also participated in heptathlon in 2017-18 but since she was not good in high jump (one of the seven events in heptathlon), she shifted to shot put at the end of 2018 and joined the national camp at Patiala in 2019.

However, 2021 proved to be a tough period in her life as she suffered from COVID-19, chikungunya and high uric acid. She also sustained an injury to her right elbow which affected her performance in the National Inter-State meet.

She had also missed the Asian Games after throwing 16.39m for a third place finish at the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar, which was the final selection event.

Khatua later threw 18.06m to equal Manpreet Kaur's national record while winning a silver medal in the Asian Championships in Thailand in July and then won the shot put event at the Indian Grand Prix 5 with an effort of 18.02m.