Haryana sprinter Nirmala Sheoran qualified for the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the women's 400 metre category after clocking a time of 51.48 seconds at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics championships in Hyderabad on Friday. The qualification mark for the Olympics is 52.20 seconds.
The timing also put Sheoran fourth in the Indian all-time rankings after Manjeet Kaur (51.04 seconds, 2004), K M Beenamol (51.21 seconds, 2000) and Chitra K Soman (51.30 seconds, 2004).
Sheoran thus becomes India's sixth entrant in the women's athletics category after Dutee Chand (100 metre), Srabani Nanda (200 metre), Tintu Lukka (400 metre) and Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh (3000 metre).
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