OP clears the London mark

Shot putter Om Prakash Kharana on Friday qualified for the 2012 London Olympics as well as next months World Championships after winning gold in an IAAF meet at Szombathely in Hungary.

Kharana registered a personal best of 20.04 metres to cross the 20-metre qualifying mark for the London Olympics and the World Championships to be held in Daegu,South Korea from August 27. The earlier personal best of the 24-year-old,who is now training in Hungary,was 20.02 metres which he registered at the 2009 Inter-State Athletics meet in Chennai.

Kharana had finished third in the Asian Championships at Kobe,Japan earlier this month. Defending his shot put title,he managed a bronze with a seasons best of 19.47 metres.