Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], June 18 : Parul Chaudhary secured gold in her pet event - 3000m Steeplechase on day-2 of the ongoing National Interstate Senior Athletics Championship.
She secured the top spot while setting a meet record as she completed the course in 9:34.23 beating Sudha Singh's 9:39.59 set in 2018 at Guwahati.
The 28-year-old Meerut athlete also secured qualification for the upcoming Asian Games later this year. While talking about her qualification for the Asiad, she said, "It feels amazing to qualify for the Asian games. I had put in a lot of practice for this competition. Especially the meet in Los Angeles last month helped me prepare for this meet."
Parul ran her personal best in the 3000m Steeplechase category last month during the Los Angeles Grand Prix held at the Drake Stadium when she completed the course at 9:29.51. While her performance at the 62nd National Interstate Senior Athletics Championship was not her best due to the extremely hot and humid conditions, she was way ahead of the chasing pack.
"I was hoping to qualify for the world championship but unfortunately due to the extremely humid and hot conditions here, I could not hit my target despite my best efforts. I ran the first two kilometres at the same steady pace but in the end, I went a little, over my target time due to the heat. It still feels great to qualify for the Asian Games. Now I am eagerly waiting for the next meet so that I can put my best foot forward in that competition and hopefully will be able to hit my target time," Parul concluded by speaking about her performance at the national meet.
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