Rain ruins Mayookha run

Long jumper grabs bronze; Om Prakash finishes third in shot put

For Mayookha Johny, gold turning into bronze was a painful experience. The defending champion in long jump, Mayookha arrived at the 20th Asian Athletics Championships under the cloud of an injury and the weather in this city didn’t help her cause.

As a steady drizzle turned into a heavy downpour at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mayookha fought hard to earn the third place, protecting her dodgy right ankle along the way. It was India’s second medal on the opening day, with shot putter Om Prakash Singh also claiming a bronze with his best show of the season.

As China made the head start in the race for the top position winning two of the five gold medals on offer, the hosts were looking to Mayookha, Om Prakash and Krishna Poonia to gain them a toe-hold on the medals table. While Krishna, struggling with a groin injury, faded to fourth in a poor quality women’s discus event, Mayookha and Om Prakash gave the Indian camp something to cheer about.

Mayookha had a best of 6.30 metres on the day as she finished well behind Japan’s Sachiko Masumi (6.55). Uzbekistan’s Anastasiya Juravleva claimed silver at 6.36 metres. “I was hoping to do my best here but I couldn’t,” said a disappointed Mayookha while her coach Syam Kumar was quite upset that the ankle sprain had doomed her chances of a better show. He confirmed that the 25-year-old won’t be taking part in the triple jump.

Mayookha started with a foul before crossing the six-metre mark with a 6.06 in the second round. She leapt to 6.18 in the third round before achieving her best of the day in the fourth. She then closed out with efforts of 6.09 and 6.18. Mayookha had won the gold in Kobe two years ago with a leap of 6.56 metres while her season’s best of 6.49 metres came at the Inter-State Championships in Chennai last month.

Om Prakash has had a mediocre season so far, failing to go past 19 metres even once. Champion in 2009 and bronze medallist last time, the giant Indian briefly raised visions of gold when he soared to the top with a 19.45M toss in the second round.

He stayed on pole till the fourth round when Saudi Arabia’s Asian record holder Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi found his range. He came up with a 19.60 metres to alter the standings and then went even better with a 19.68M effort in the fifth round to rebuff the challenge of Chang Ming-Huang, the defending champion.

The Chinese Taipei athlete, struggling with the wet conditions, had shown his class with a 19.61 toss in the fifth round but the Saudi Arabian had a bit more in reserve.

“I wanted to win the gold here, bronze doesn’t satisfy me at all,” said Om Prakash, who had a series of 19.18, 19.45, 19.08, foul, 19.41 and 19.05 – marking a remarkable turnaround in his form. “I had an elbow injury after the Olympics and it has been a struggle since then. I am happy that I am finding my rhythm at last. I wanted to win here and book a ticket to Moscow World Championships but now, I want to compete in a couple of meets in Europe to try and qualify,” he said.

The other Indian entries, Inderjeet Singh finished fourth with a personal best of 19.31M while Satyendra Singh was ninth with 18.01.

Krishna was disappointed that she couldn’t top even such a mediocre competition in women’s discus. China’s Su Yinyue claimed gold at 55.88 metres while her compatriot Jiang Fengjing won the silver at 55.70. Krishna (55.01) finished fourth behind Chinese Taipei’s Li Tsai-Yi (55.32). Su’s was the poorest winning effort in this event since 1983 when another Chinese, Jiao Yunxiang, had won the gold with a 53.00M effort.

This is the first time since 1995 that India has failed to win a medal in women's discus.
“The weather wasn’t a factor. I have competed in worse weather but the groin injury really hampered my throwing today,” said Krishna. Seema Antil, the other Indian contender, was a poor fifth at 52.58M.

Elsewhere, Bahrain’s Shitaye Eshete stole the show with a meet record in the women’s 10000M, defending the gold medal she won in Kobe. Shitaye and UAE’s Aliya Saeed tailed Japan’s Ayumi Hagiwara for the better part of the race before changing tack and storming the front.

Surging ahead with eight laps left, Shitaye kept widening the advantage and the rain that grew in strength didn’t seem to bother her as he came home in 32:17.29, breaking the record of 32:25.27 set by China’s Zhong Huandi in 1989. India’s Preeja Sreedharan, the Asian Games champion, was fourth in her season’s best of 33:41.97.
In the women's 400M, India's M R Poovamma cruised into the final winning her semis in 53.60 seconds. Anu Mariam Jose (53.66) also advanced.


Results: Men: Shot put: Sultan Abdulmajeed Al-Hebshi (Saudi Arabia) 19.68 metres, 1; Chang Ming-Huang (Chinese Taipei) 19.61, 2; Om Prakash (India) 19.45, 3.
Pole vault: Xue Changrui (China) 5.60 metres, 1; Lu Yao (China) 5.20, 2; Jin Min-Sub (South Korea) 5.20, 3.

Women: 10000M: Shitaye Eshete Habtegebrel (Bahrain) 32:17.29 (New Meet Record. Old: 32:25.27, Zhong Huandi, 1989) 1; Alia Saeed (United Arab Emirates) 32:39.39, 2; Ayumi Hagiwara (Japan) 32:47.44, 3.

Long jump: Sachiko Masumi (Japan) 6.55 metres, 1; Anastasiya Juravleva (Uzbekistan) 6.36, 2; Mayookha Johny (India) 6.30, 3.

Discus throw: Su Xinyue (China) 55.88 metres, 1; Jiang Fengjing (China) 55.70, 2; Li Tsai-yi (Chinese Taipei) 55.32, 3.

Tomorrow's finals: Men: 100M, 400M, 10000M, discus throw.
Women: 100M, 400M, High jump.