Rio 2016: Lalita Babar qualifies for steeplechase medal round, first Indian woman after PT Usha to reach a track final

Lalita Babar qualified for the women's 3000m steeplechase final after finishing fourth in the qualifying heat 2 with a national record time while compatriot Sudha Singh was eliminated in the Olympic Games on Saturday. She also became first Indian after PT Usha to reach a track final.

Lalita, who had won the bronze medal in the event in the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, two years ago, in fact finished with the seventh-best time in the heats in a new national record of 9 minutes, 19.76 seconds. Lalita, in fact, clipped nearly seven seconds off the national mark standing in the name of Sudha (9:26.55), clocked in Shanghai in May. 

The top three in the three heats gain automatic qualification while Lalita, hailing from Maharashtra, made the grade as one of the six fastest from among the rest. Had she run in the third heat she would have qualified as the winner of that race.

Sudha, on the other hand, performed far below her best to finish a distant 9th in heat 2 in a poor 9:43.29 which gave her the 30th spot out of 52 in the qualifiers. Lalita will be seen in the final of the gruelling race on August 15.