Rakshitha Raju makes final in Para World Championships

PARIS: Vision-impaired Karnataka runner Rakshitha Raju qualified for the women's 1500m final in the Para Athletics World Championships, here on Sunday.

Accompanied by her guide and coach Rahul Balakrishna in the T11 category, the 2018 Para Asian Games gold medalist clocked 5:26.47 seconds in the second heat to qualify for the final on Monday.

The first two in each heat and the next two fastest have made it to the final.

Rakshitha has bagged the fifth place in a seven-member final field slated for Monday.

The field has three from Kenya with Mary Waithera Njoroge having the best timing of 4:54.86, followed by South Africa's Louzanne Coetzee (4:54.90) and Nancy Chelangat Koech (5:15.00), also from Kenya.

Rakshitha won the 1500m gold in the Guangzhou Asian Games and became one of the first female athletes in the country to achieve the feat in her category.