National Games gold medallist Parvej Khan becomes first Indian to qualify for NCAA track event final

New Delhi: National Games gold medallist Parvej Khan on Saturday became the first Indian to qualify for the final of a track event in the NCAA Championships of the United States, one of the most competitive collegiate competitions in the world, as he made the grade in men's one-mile event in Boston.

Khan clocked 3 minutes 57.126 seconds to finish third in the one-mile preliminary run and make it to the final in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The 19-year-old was representing the University of Florida as he earned a college scholarship there last year.

The 19-year-old Khan, who belongs to a farming family in Mewat region in Haryana, had won the 1500m gold in the 2022 National Games with a new personal best of 3.40.89 in Gandhinagar.

The mile run though is not popular among Indian athletes and is not in the Olympic and World Championships programmes.

Three Indians -- Tejaswin Shankar (2018 and 2022 in high jump), Mohinder Singh Gill (triple jump) and Vikas Gowda (2006 in discus throw) -- have all won gold at the NCAA championships.

"Pumped to see Parvez Khan (ONLY (Indian flag) to make @NCAATrackField finals for @GatorsTF in a track event EVER) if it's a slower race he is winning hands down! If I were coaching his competitor I'd tell them to run the first few laps like their life depended on it. He WILL hunt you down!," Shankar tweeted.

Khan won the 800m gold at the U-16 Nationals in Mangalagiri, Andhra Pradesh, in 2019, and took bronze over the same distance at the Khelo India Youth Games (U-18) the next year before winning his first senior race -- the 1500m at the National Open Championships in Warrangal in 2021.

He bagged a 1500m silver National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Chennai in 2022 and won a gold over the same distance in the National Open in Bengaluru in the same year.