Guwahati : Indian long-distance runner Kavita Raut today qualified for the Rio Olympics in women’s marathon after winning the event in the 12th South Asian Games, a perfect end to the country’s memorable athletics campaign in the event here today.
The 30-year-old Raut easily clinched the marathon gold in 2 hours 38 minutes and 38 seconds to become the fourth Indian women to have qualified for Rio Games women’s marathon. The Rio Games women’s marathon qualification standard stands at 2:42:00.
O P Jaisha, Lalita Babbar and Sudha Singh have already qualfied for women’s marathon in Rio Olympics.
Sri Lankans N G Rajasekara (2:50:47.00) and B Anuradhi (2:52:15.00) took the silver and bronze respectively.
Nashik girl Raut is the lone athlete to have qualified for the Olympics from the 12th SAG.
Another Rio Olympics-bound Nitender Singh Rawat took the men’s marathon gold in 2:15:18 seconds in a close finish in a star-studded field. He won the race by being merely a second ahead of Indrajith Cooray of Sri Lanka who has also qualified for Rio Games.
Cooray took the silver in 2:15:19 seconds while another Indian Kheta Ram, the third competitor to have booked a Rio Games berth, got the bronze in 2 hours 21 minutes and 14 seconds.
With today’s two gold and one bronze, India ended the athletics competition with 28 gold, 22 silver and 9 bronze, medals thereby establishing their unrivalled superiority in the South Asian region.