Tintu Luka emerged victorious in the Folksam Grand Prix Meet at Karlstad, Sweden

Tintu Luka coached by P. T. Usha opened her European tour with a victory in the Folksam Grand Prix meet at Karlstad, Sweden, on 2 August 2011.

The Indian record holder, Tintu Luka clocked 2:02.58, a shade under her season best (2:02.55 at Kobe) in the 800 metres event. Luka remained behind Lithuanian Egle Balciunate (personal best 1:59.47) for most of the race before moving ahead during the final 200 metres. Luka won 5000 Swedish Kroner (Rs 34,000) for her win.
Baluciante came second in 2:02.72 while Melissa Bishop of Canada was third in 2:02.80.

Luka is also scheduled to participate in Amsterdam (6 August 2011) and Leuven, Belgium (13 August) meets. She already qualified for the World championships to be held in Daegu, Korea, from 27 August 2011.

The other Indian runner in the fray in the Karlstad meet, Ghamanda Ram, came fifth in the men's 800m race in a time of 1:47.25s. Briton Mukhtar Mohammed (1:45.90) took the gold and was followed by Sudan's Ahmad Ismail, the Beijing Olympics silver medallist, in 1:46.09 and Denmark's Andreas Bube, at 1:46.49.