Doha: Odisha’s sprint queen Dutee Chand finished a disappointing fifth in the women’s 100m dash while unheralded half miler Gomathi Marimuthu and shot putter Tejinderpal Singh Toor clinched a gold each to share the limelight as India bagged five medals on the second day of the Asian Athletics Championships here Monday.
Dutee clocked 11.44s. She ran her worst race in the final after smashing her own national record twice in two days – in the heats (11.28s) Sunday and semifinals (11.26s) Monday. Dutee had won a bronze in the 2017 edition in Bhubaneswar.
The 30-year-old Gomathi clocked a personal best time of 2 minute 02.70s in the women’s 800m race to open India’s gold account. On the other hand national record holder and pre-competition favourite Toor’s first round throw of 20.22m was enough to fetch him a gold in the men’s shot put final at the Khalifa Stadium.
Shivpal Singh then added a silver in men’s javelin throw by sending the spear to a distance of 86.23m, his personal best. In the process, the 23-year-old Shivpal also booked a berth for the World Championships to be held at the same venue in September-October as he crossed the qualifying mark of 83m.
Jabir Madari Palliyalil and Saritaben Gayakwad bagged a bronze each in men’s and women’s 400m hurdles respectively to swell the Indian medal tally.
With the five medals Monday, India’s medal tally stood at two gold, three silver and five bronze medals. The first Indian medal of the second day came from 24-year-old Gayakwad who clocked 57.22s to finish third in women’s 400m hurdles, behind Vietnam’s Quach The Lan (56.10s) and Bahrain’s Aminat Yusuf Jamal (56.39s).
His male counterpart Jabir then added a bronze by running the third fastest men’s 400m hurdles by an Indian as he clocked a personal best of 49.13s.
In the process, the 22-year-old Jabir joined national record holder Dharun Ayyasamy as the second Indian to qualify for the World Championships 400m hurdles event.
However in the men’s 400m, India suffered setbacks as defending champion Muhammed Anas and last edition silver winner Arokia Rajiv failed to win a medal.
Rajiv finished fourth with a personal best time of 45.37 seconds while Anas, who has been struggling after a leg injury in an accident last year, ended at eighth with a time of 46.10s.
In men’s 800m final, Muhammed Afsal finished seventh with a time of 1:54.68s while Asian Games silver medallist Jinson Johnson was not able to complete the race.
