NEWS WIRE's video: Athlete Athletics Punjab Sports Games Harmilan Kaur Bains Champion Woman Athlete

, , , Punjab’s Harmilan Kaur Bains shattered a 19-year-old national record to win the women's 1500m race by clocking 4:05 in the 60th National Open Athletics Championships in Warangal on Thursday. However, Harmilan’s effort fell short of the World Championships qualification which is set at 4:04.20. Harmilan cruised home in 4:05.39 seconds to erase the mark set by Sunita Rani at 4:06.03 at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan in the same tournament where her mother Madhuri Singh took the 800m silver. Harmilan also broke OP Jaisha’s meet record of 4:11.83 (Delhi 2006). Delhi’s KM Chanda (4:18.24) shadowed Harmilan Bains until the Punjab runner sped away at the bell to win by a sizable margin. Undefeated in eight national-level races since January 2020, Harmilan has shown rapid progress, improving from 4:14.68 in the Khelo India University Games in Bhubaneshwar last year to 4:08.70 and 4:08.27 in the Federation Cup (March 16) and Indian Grand Prix 4 (June 21) respectively in Patiala…