Neeraj soars but Indian athletics remains stagnant

PTI

New Delhi, August 28

Neeraj Chopra continued to break new grounds but most of his compatriots flattered to deceive once again at the World Championships. Indian athletes have won a total of three medals at the marquee event so far, with Chopra accounting for two of those. Long jumper Anju Bobby George had won bronze in the 2003 edition.

The harsh reality is that despite reaching the finals in four events, no Indian apart from Chopra was considered a serious contender. Those who reached the final were javelin throwers Chopra, DP Manu and Kishore Jena, 3000m steeplechaser Parul Chaudhary, long jumper Jeswin Aldrin and the men’s relay team.

Much was expected in the long jump event. The duo of Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar had entered the meet as season leaders. However, the former finished 11th while the latter failed to make the final. Similarly, national record holder Avinash Sable crashed out in the heats of the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

“I know how those who could not do their best this time are feeling,” Chopra said. “They prepared in the best possible way but I would like to tell them not to get disappointed. The only thing is they should find out the mistake and should not repeat again,” he added. — PTI

Relay team misses out

The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team had raised hopes of a historic medal after finishing second overall in the heats with an Asian record time of 2 minutes, 59.51 seconds on Saturday. In the final, though, the quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh could do no better than finish fifth in 2:59.92. The US won their ninth gold from the last 10 finals.

Parul breaks national record, qualifies for Paris

Parul Chaudhary created a national record as she finished 11th in women’s 3000m steeplechase final in 9 minutes, 15.31 seconds. The earlier record was held by Lalita Babar (9:19.76) who had finished eighth in the 2015 World Championships. Parul’s also bettered the Paris Olympics qualifying standard, set at 9:23.00.

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