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Inter-State Athletics Championships blunder in Bhubaneswar leaves hurdler R Harshitha out of 400m hurdles final after disqualification.
Indian Athletics
A blunder by the officials at the Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar left hurdler R Harshitha out of the final of the 400m hurdles, at an event which is serving as a qualification tournament for the Asian Games.
Harshitha was left to run the women’s 400m hurdles alone on Saturday morning after a bizarre officials’ blunder, before missing out on a place in the final at the Inter-State Athletics Championships.
Making her National-level debut, Harshitha walked onto the track at Kalinga Stadium at 9:30 am, after the morning session had concluded, with all the other competitors gone and the event’s video recording already stopped.
As Harshitha settled into lane eight, officials ensured all 10 hurdles between her and the finish line were in place.
The previous evening, however, officials hadn’t been as meticulous. Competing in a heat of the women’s 400m hurdles, Harshitha cleared the first four barriers before finding an empty lane where the fifth hurdle should have been.
It hadn’t been placed.
“Initially, when I did not see a hurdle in my lane, I thought I had gone off the track, so I crossed back to the hurdle, which I thought was in my lane. It was only after the race when I saw the video that I realised what had happened,” Harshitha was quoted as saying by Sports stars.
Harshitha clocked 1:01.03 to cross the finish line, a time that would have bagged her a place in Saturday evening’s final. Instead, officials disqualified her after the race.
“They told me that even if I did not have a hurdle in my lane, I was at fault because I crossed lanes. They said I should have continued running in my lane. But all hurdlers have a rhythm,” Harshitha said.
After a verbal protest, the Athletics Federation of India permitted her another chance to run on Saturday morning. But she was informed that she would need to clock under 1:02.00 to earn a place in the final.
Harshitha eventually clocked 1:02.54 and couldn’t qualify.
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