At the Federation Cup 2024, Abha Khatua broke the women’s shot put national record set by Manpreet Kaur, which was 18.06 meters. Khatua threw 18.41 meters on her fifth try, surpassing Manpreet’s record from the 2022 National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai.
Khatua, a 28-year-old from Maharashtra, had previously matched the national record (18.06 meters) at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships. She improved her personal best from 17.13 meters by nearly a meter. On her fourth attempt, she threw the 4 kg shot put 18.06 meters, finishing second to China’s Song Jiayuan, who threw 18.88 meters.
Manpreet Kaur, whose record Khatua broke, had won a bronze medal in the Asian Games with a throw of 17 meters in the first round. Khatua was also close to breaking Manpreet’s meet record of 17.04 meters from 2017 and was just 0.39 centimeters short of qualifying for the Paris Olympics.