Lalita Babar, who competed in the women's 3000m steeplechase, became the first Indian track athlete (male and female) to finish in the top eight in a World Championship but Tintu Luka crashed out in the heats of the women's 800 metres.
T
intu Luka crashed out of the women's 800 metres at the World Athletics Championships after a disappointing seventh place finish in the first round of heats, but her season's best effort enabled her qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics, on the fifth day of competition, in Beijing, on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old reigning Asian champion and Indian record holder clocked her season's best timing of 2:00.95 seconds while finishing seventh in the first of six heats. However, it was not enough to qualify for the semi-finals.
Three top finishers in each of the six heats and the next six fastest timers made the grade.
Luka, who has a personal best of 1:59.17s, clocked in 2010, though, had the consolation of attaining the Rio Olympics qualification time of 2:01.00s.
As is her wont, she led the eight-woman field in the opening lap with timing of 57.06 seconds, but ran out of steam in the final stretch, six runners going past her in the last 200 meters.
Luka was also a bit unlucky as she was pitted in a more competitive heat. The three top finishers in heat numbers four and five clocked worse times than the Indian but still advanced to the semi-finals.
It was Tintu's second appearance in the World Championships. She was a semi-finalist at Daegu, South Korea, in 2011.
European champion Marina Arzamasova of Belarus led the qualification chart with a time of 1:58.69s, followed by Great Britain's Lynsey Sharp (1:58.98s) and 2009 World champion Caster Semenya (1:59.59s) of South Africa.
All three were in Luka's heat.
Lalita finishes eighth in steeplechase
India's Lalita Babar finished a creditable eighth in the 3000m steeplechase event to become the first Indian track athlete (male and female) to finish in the top eight in a World Championship.
So far, only two athletes -- both from field events (long jumper Anju Bobby George and discus thrower Vikas Gowda) -- have finished better than Lalita in the World Athletics Championships.
Given the gap in the personal best times with other athletes in the competition, Lalita was not expected to stand on the podium though she had smashed her own national record with a 9:27.86s effort in the semi-finals on Monday.
Lalita broke off the pack of runners early on to set the pace of the race but ran out of steam as seven of her rivals overtook her and left her behind with two laps remaining.
Kenya's Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi won the event in 9:19.11s while Tunisia's Olympic silver medallist Habibi Ghribi (9:19.24s) and Germany's Gesa Felicitas Krause took the silver and bronze respectively.
Image: Tintu Luka of India.
Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
