Toor, Jyothi, Harmilan make it India’s day

Tehran, February 17

Ace shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji rewrote their national records, while long distance sensation Harmilan Bains sizzled on the track as India grabbed three gold medals on the opening day of the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships here today.

Two-time Asian Games gold medallist Toor hurled the shot put to a distance of 19.72 metres in his second attempt for a new national indoor record. Kazakhstan’s Ivanov Ivan (19.08m) and Iran’s Mehdi Saberi (18.74m) took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Earlier, Jyothi Yarraji marginally bettered her own national record by clocking 8:12 seconds in the women’s 60m hurdles to win the gold. The 2022 Asiad silver medallist in the 100m hurdles had the previous best timing of 8:13s last year.

The 24-year-old athlete topped her heat with a timing of 8:22s, and in the final she did better to finish ahead of Japan’s Asuka Tereda (8.21s).

Asian Games silver medallist Harmilan Bains blazed the track with a timing of 4 minutes, 29.55 seconds to bag India’s first gold of the day in the women’s 1,500m.