Soma Biswas clinches Olympics berth

Heptathlete Soma Biswas qualified for the Athens Olympics, scoring a whopping 6162 points on the third and concluding day of the 44th Inter-state National Athletics Championships in Chennai on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old officer with the Eastern Railways was a picture of confidence as almost everyone at the stadium looked forward to her achieving the qualifying mark for the Athens Olympics.

Biswas collected 2652 points in her last three events (long jump 934 pts), javelin (800 pts) and 800 metres run (98 pts), thereby finishing first in all her seven events.

In the four events on Monday, (100m hurdles-1021 pts, high jump-818 pts, shotput-721 pts and 200 metres run-950 pts, she tallied 3510 points. Thus, her total of 6162 points against the 'A' standard regulation of 6050 points clinched her a berth for the next month's Athens event.

"Chennai has been my best hunting ground. Few months before the Sydney Olympics in 2000, I had set my career best of 6186 points but people were talking about it as a one-off achievement.

"I was able to perform well since there was a strong challenge from Pramila Aiyappa. I am happy that I was able to realise my dream of competing in the Athens Games," an elated Biswas told reporters.