Abha Khatua set a new national record in women's shot put at the National Federation Cup Athletics Competition, winning the gold medal with a throw of 18.41 meters, surpassing her previous record with Manpreet Kaur. The event took place at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Following, Kiran Baliyan won the silver medal at 16.54 meters, while Srishti Vig won the bronze medal at 15.86 meters.
Abha hails from Khurshi, West Bengal, she has made significant progress in the shot put since 2019, winning gold at the 1st Indian Open Throws Competition in 2022. She has already surpassed the 17-meter mark in distances and qualified for the Asian Games. She mentioned, "I aim 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." The road to the Paris Olympics qualification will close on June 30.
Abha shares that, the current men's shot put world record holder with a throw of 25.36 meters, Ryan Crouser is her idol. The top shot putters in the world employ the rotation technique, and the coaches in the national camp and the AFI had advised her to change from the glide technique to the rotation method.
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