Asian Athletics Championships: Mixed results for Odia athletes

In an impressive show at the Asian Athletics Championship 2017 held here, the host India finished on the top of the medal tally for the first time in history in their most successful campaign with 29 medals on Sunday.

The opening day of competitions tomorrow may see India opening the gold account as Manpreet has the potential to grab the yellow metal in the women’s shot put after she threw 18.86m in China recently to better her own national record.

Among those who won the silver medal includes- V Neena, Rajiv Arokia, Tejinder Pal Singh Toor. The hosts ended with 29 medals (12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze), their highest-ever haul.

Earlier in the tournament, Iranian discus thrower and London 2012 Olympics silver medalist Ehsan Haddadi threw 64.54 meters and received the gold medal.

It was India’s first title in the 400m since Sriram Singh’s gold at the 1975 Seoul Asian Athletics.

The Indian women’s relay team defended their proud record at the Asian Championships with their tenth gold medal in the seventeenth edition of the continental event.

Meanwhile, behind India, second in place was China who finished this edition with 8 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze.

M. Londa of Indonesia, who is highly renowned in the long jump event, did not attend the championships, therefore, Thao was considered No. 1 among 13 athletes competing. Indeed, they recorded the seventh-best performance by a country in the 4x400m relay this year. Jisna Mathew had to be satisfied with a bronze in 53.32s, while favourite MR Poovamma missed out on the podium after finishing fourth by four-hundredth of a second. India’s Nayana James placed third in the the women’s Long Jump during the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships on July 6.

The 34-year-old, who had to undergo two trials before being given a clearance to participate in the event, said, “I had been struggling to find my technique for the last couple of weeks, so in that regard I think I did okay”. Her toughest competitors and the eventual gold and silver medalists – Kazakhs Victoriya Zyabkin and Olga Safronova respectively – had both come into the competition with better timings.

Archana was thus disqualified and Nimali (2:05:23) was awarded the gold medal, while another Sri Lankan Gayanthika Thushari (2:05:27) took the silver.

India’s gold medal rush, however, started with Swapna Barman (5942 points) winning the heptathlon. On Friday, sprinter Dutee Chand also secured a bronze medal in the women’s 100m sprint.