After eight years, a Bengali athlete ensured a berth in the Indian contingent for the Olympics. She is Abha Khatua from Khursi village Narayangarh in Midnapore district, West Bengal. Abha however represents in all the national ranking competitions, unfortunately not from Bengal, but from Maharashtra. 

Debasree Majumder was the last Bengali athlete to have participated in Rio Olympics in 2016.

The sudden demise of her one very close relative a couple of days ago had affected Abha psychologically. Even, while speaking she seemed to have forgotten her jubilation after the dream of participating in the Paris Olympics. She had to rush to her village from the ongoing training camp at Patiala. 

The 29-year-old shot putter, before leaving her home for Patiala on Saturday stated, “Yes, the dream came true. Now my goal is to earn qualification for the final round of my event in Paris. If I can throw 19 meters then I will be able to reach the final round.” 

It is learned that the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) is going to send Abha along with other Indian athletes who qualified for the Paris Olympics to Europe (tentatively Poland) for exposure for the final preparation for the Olympics and the team is likely to fly for Paris from Europe. 

Abha created history first in Federation Cup athletics in Bhubaneswar on 13th May, surpassing Manpreet Kaur’s previous record with a magnificent 18.41-meter throw. Then she threw 17.63 meters in the Inter-State athletics meet before qualifying for the Paris Olympics through the world ranking. 

Maharashtra government gave Abha a new life and the shot putter concluded, “I have overcome several hurdles. So, I am not at all complacent. I still feel my journey has started.”