IAAF World Championships 2019: PU Chitra to compete in Women's 1500M

The IAAF World Athletics Championships will begin on September 27 in Doha. The 17th edition of the tournament will go on till October 6. The last edition was in 2017. India are fielding a 25-member team for the competition.

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IAAF World Championships 2019: Women's 1500M

The Women's 1500 metre is a middle distance race. The Heats will take place on October 2 at 5:35 PM local time. The semi-finals will take place on October 3 at 11:00 PM local time. The final will follow on October 5 at 8:55 PM local time. The winners at the 2017 games were Kenya's Faith Kipyegon (Gold), U.S.A.'s Jenny Simpson (Silver), and South African Caster Semenya (Bronze).

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2017 Champion Faith Kipyegon may be back for her title. The Kenyan took a break from the sport in 2018 to give birth to her daughter and has looked solid since her comeback. Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen may be another tough competitor to beat as she clocked 3:59.02 to finish second at the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich. European Champion Laura Muir was in cracking form at Rome although she suffered an injury.

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IAAF World Championships 2019: Indian representation

P.U. Chitra will be representing India in the 1500 metre Women's race. The 24-year-old has already been to Doha as she won Gold at the Asian Championships earlier this year. She defended the gold she had won in the Asian Games in 2017. In Sweden, she clocked in at 4:12.65 to win the Folksam Grand Prix. Her participation in the World Championships was earlier under question but was later confirmed. Her lack of participation in the 2017 games created a lot of controversy and the Sports Minister ended up visiting her house to lend her support. She resides at Mundur village in Kerela. 

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