Nirmala Sheoran
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2016: Qualifies for the Olympics
The Times of India, Jul 02, 2016
Manne Ratnakar
On a day when rain relented and the track was dry , Nirmala Sheoran came up with the performance of her life to qualify for the Rio Olympics.
It was a bolt from blue experience for everyone, including the legendary PT Usha, who watched in awe as Nirmala blazed to 400m gold in just 51.48 secs to set new meet record and finish within the Olympic qualifying mark of 52.20 secs.
She is the 28th Indian track and field athlete to qualify for the Games.
Never before had Nirmala completed 400M in such quick time. Her earlier best was 53.94 seconds in 2013. Thereafter, she never came within the 54 second mark. But on Friday , the 22-year-old Gram Panchayat clerk from Bhiwani stunned everyone with her stupendous show at the 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships here.
“It takes at least one year to improve from 54 seconds to 53, one year to improve from 53 to 52 and one more to improve from 52 to 51.
But if an athlete can improve from around 54 to 51 in just one meet it is unbelievable.
Nirmala had an amazing run, I watched her. I am very happy that one more athlete has qualified for Olympics,“ said PT Usha.
Nirmala finished the race almost six to eight metres ahead of second-placed Jisna Mathew of Kerala. In spite of her show here, Nirmala may not be part of the 4x400 team which is aiming to consolidate its Olympic qualification. As on date, the Indian women are ranked 13th in the list of 16 qualifiers and by July 11 they are aiming to stay within the top 16. The Indian women quartet of Poovamma, Anilda, Jisna Mathew and Tintu Luka will compete in the 4x400 relay .
