Lalita Babar breathed life and hope into an otherwise grim Indian track and field show so far at the Rio Games, clocking a national record time of 9:19.76 to finish fourth in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase, becoming the first Indian woman to qualify for the finals of a track event at the Olympics since PT Usha's 1984 feat.
She will next compete in the finals on August 15.
Lalita clipped nearly seven seconds of the existing national record of 9:26.53, set by Sudha Singh at the IAAF Diamond League meet in Shanghai in May this year. Lalita finished with the seventh-best time in the heats.
Sudha, the other Indian in the fray, however, clocked a timing of 9:43.29 to finish 30th out of 52 qualifiers, failing to make the cut for the finals. In the women's 400m, Nirmala Sheoran could only manage a timing of 53.03s in the heats, failing to advance.