While everything seems to be quiet at the Indian quartermilers’ camp in Antalya, Turkey, there is a lot of fast-paced action happening back home.
A month after Aishwarya Mishra’s stunning 51.18s at the Malappuram Federation Cup in April and the vanishing trick after that, another quartermiler Kiran Pahal has come up with an impressive time.
Kiran, from Sonepat, clocked 51.84s for the Haryana State title at Karnal a few days ago, a time that took her to the second spot in this year’s Asian 400m list, behind Aishwarya.
Kiran hit the headlines with her 52.73s (improving from 55.18 in 2018) at the 2019 Ranchi National Open and was invited to the national relay camp. But she had a very quiet life after that, clocking a best of 54.48s in 2021.
But now, with the inter-State Nationals — the main trials to select the Indian team for the World championships and Commonwealth Games — in Chennai coming up (June 10-14), she has managed to improve her time magically.
“I hope to clock 51.35s at the inter-State...that’s the World championship qualifying mark, that’s my target,” Kiran told The Hindu on Tuesday evening.
“I had a hamstring injury last year during training and missed three months. Now, my workouts are good, they have improved. That’s the reason for the good time.”
Kiran joined the Railways as a junior clerk in Patiala last year and finished third (55.68s), behind Soniya Baishya and Loganayaki, in the inter-Railway meet in March this year.
Incidentally, the Railway meet came very close to the Federation Cup and she missed the Malappuram event.
But she is ready for Chennai and hopes to get back to the National camp.
“I was in the National camp in 2019 and 2020. If I get a call, I’ll join immediately,” said the 21-year-old whose last competition was the 400m trials last year to pick the Indian mixed relay team for the Tokyo Olympics.
Meanwhile, chief national coach Radhakrishnan Nair revealed that Kiran could be considered for the camp if she does well in Chennai.
“She did not take part in any of the AFI competitions this year. We will decide after seeing her performance in the inter-State,” he said.
