Saraswathi Saha of West Bengal qualified for the Athens Olympics on Friday when she won the 200m in the fourth National circuit athletic meet, held in Bangalore.
The 24-year-old Eastern Railway employee braved inclement weather and still managed to find her pace on a track soaked by intermittent showers at the Kanteerava stadium to win the race with a timing of 23.07 secs.
The beaming Kolkata girl, after her successful effort to qualify for the Olympics in the last of the circuit meets, said "My confidence level was high at the start, though it was a difficult task".
Saha, coached by husband Hameed Saha and Parminder Singh, regretted that she could not better her best timing of 22.82 secs, achieved at the 2002 circuit meet at Ludhiana.
"On the drenched track, I could not get the speed", said Saha, who was the lone participant to achieve the qualifying mark to Athens.
