India’s moment under the sun
Bhubaneswar, July 6
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur and long distance runner G Lakshmanan grabbed gold medals on the opening day of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships as the hosts won seven medals to sit atop the medal tally.
V Neena and Nayan James bagged a silver and bronze in the women’s long jump while Vikas Gowda, Yadav and Annu Rani added a bronze each in the men’s discus throw, women’s 5000m race and javelin throw, respectively.
China second on Day 1
China ended the day in second position with one gold and two silver medals.
Birthday girl Manpreet opened India’s gold medal account with a career second-best throw of 18.28m. She upstaged defending champion Guo Tianqian of China to give herself a perfect birthday gift at the packed Kalinga Stadium.
Tianqian took the silver with a best throw of 17.91m while Aya Ota of Japan got the bronze with 15.45m.
All Asian Championships title-winners get automatic berths for the World Championships to be held in London next month but Manpreet, who hails from a village near Patiala, has already qualified for the global event with her own national record-improving effort of 18.86 in China.
The 27-year-old Lakhsmanan then gave India the second gold with an unexpected win in the men’s 5000m race. Lakshmananwon the gold in 14 minutes 54.48s. Yaser Salem of Qatar was second in 14:55.89 while Tariq Ahmed of Saudi Arabia took the bronze in 14:56.83.
India added one silver and one bronze in the women’s long jump through V Neena and Nayan James, who cleared distances of 6.54m and 6.42m, respectively.
Vietnam’s Bui Thi Thu won the gold with a best jump of 6.54m, the same as that of Neena, but was adjudged the winner as her second best effort of 6.44m was better than that of the Indian (6.32m).
In the women’s 5000m, Sanjivini Yadav added a bronze to India’s medal tally by clocking 16 minute and 00.24s, behind Kyrgyzstan's Daria Maslova (15:57.95) and UAE's Alia Mohammed (15:59.95).
Gowda settles for bronze
In the men’s discus throw, Vikas Gowda failed to defend his title but grabbed the bronze with a best effort of 60.81m. Gowda’s long-time nemesis at the Asian circuit, Ehsan Haddadi of Iran, took the gold with a best throw of 64.54m while Malaysia’s Muhammad Irfan took the silver with 60.96m.
Annu Rani ended the day for the hosts by adding a bronze with an effort of 57.32m.
Dutee, Amiya in semis
In the 100m dash, Dutee Chand and Amiya Kumar Mallick qualified for the semifinals in the women’s and men’s events. Dutee was the best qualifier as she won the third heat with a time of 11.40s while Mallick was third in the men’s 100m sprint with a timing of 10.48s. The semifinals and finals of the men’s and women’s 100m dash will be held tomorrow.
Quartermilers in final round
All the three women quartermilers — Nirmala Sheoran, MR Poovamma and Jisna Mathew — qualified for the final round. — PTI
