Toor, Gomathi win gold; India’s medal count 10 on Day 2 

Doha, April 22

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. 

The 30-year-old Gomathi clocked a personal best time of 2 min, 02.70s in the women’s 800m race to open India’s gold account. “I did not realise till I crossed the finish line that I have won a gold medal. The last 150m was very tight race,” Gomathi said.

Toor’s first round throw of 20.22m was enough to fetch him the gold in the men’s shot put final. The 24-year-old, who has a personal best of 20.75m, had entered into the championships as the season leader among the Asians and he lived up to the top billings. 

Shivpal Singh then added a silver in the men’s javelin throw by sending the spear to a distance of 86.23m, his personal best. The 23-year-old 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 the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, respectively, to swell the Indian medal tally.

With five medals on Monday, India’s medal tally stood at 2 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. India had won 2 silver and 3 bronze on the first day on Sunday. 

Dutee runs out of steam

Sprinter Dutee Chand finished a disappointing fifth in the women’s 100m dash final by clocking 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) on Sunday and semifinals (11.26s) on Monday. Dutee had won a bronze in the 2017 edition in Bhubaneswar.

The first Indian medal of the second day came from 24-year-old Gayakwad who clocked 57.22s to finish third in the 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. The 22-year-old joined Dharun Ayyasamy as the second Indian to qualify for the World Championships 400m hurdles event. 

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