Om Prakash strikes gold

Athletics: Asian Championships: Hamza, Manjeet, Jyothi bag bronze medals to swell Indias tally

Manjeet Kaur, Chatholi Hamza and H M  Jyothi bagged a bronze each in women’s 400M, men’s 1500M and women’s 100M dash respectively.

India’s medal tally now stands at five, with one gold and four bronze.

Om Prakash touched 19.87M with his fifth throw to bag the yellow metal in a strong field which included Asian record holder Al-habishi Sultan of Saudi Arabia, who eventually finished fifth with 18.89M.

The Indian, however, failed to touch his personal best of 20.02M. Chang Ming Huang (19.34M) of Chinese Taipei won the silver.

National record holder Manjeet Kaur’s 53.66-second effort in women’s 400 was well below her best of 51.05S or even her season-best of 52.08, but it was still enough to win her the bronze in a tight race. Mandeep Kaur was fourth in 53.76S.

Asami Tanno of Japan finally won an elusive Asian Championships gold in a time of 53.32S. She had won silver in Amman (2007) and bronze in Incheon (2005). Chen Li (53.55S) of China came in second, ahead of Manjeet.

Hamza clocked 3:48.44 to win the men’s 1500 bronze while compatriot Sunil Kumar was fifth in 3:49.38. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Shaween (3:46.08) won the gold.
Jyothi ran a fine race in a strong field to fetch a bronze in the women’s 100M dash, clocking 11.60. Chisato Fukushima of Japan won gold in 11.27 while Vietnam’s Vu Thi Huong was second with 11.50 sec.

The two Indians in the men’s 100M, however, disappointed. Sathya Suresh and Abdul Najeeb Qureshi finished seventh and eighth respectively in the final with efforts of 10.62S and 10.63S. China’s Zhang Peimeng emerged the fastest man, winning in 10.28S.

In women’s triple jump, MA Prajusha (12.58M) and Reshmi Bose (12.18M) finished eighth and 10th respectively. Olga Rypakova (14.53M) of Kazakhstan won the gold.

In the men’s 400M final, Bibin Mathew and Shakeh Mortaza finished fourth and fifth respectively, clocking 47.03 and 47.36 seconds. In the women’s 1500M, S R Bindhu and Sushma Devi ended u pfourth and fifth respectively. Meanwhile, Pramila Aiyappa pulled out of heptathlon midway through the 200M on the first day, apparently because of injury.
PTI
Results, all finals, Men:  400M: Liu Xiaosheng (Chn) 46.55 seconds, 1; Kanemaru Yuzo (Jpn) 46.60, 2; Ismail Mohammed Alsibyani (KSA) 46.84, 3; Bibin Mathew (Ind) 47.03, 4; Mortaja Shake (Ind) 47.36, 5. 1500M: Mohammed Othman H Shaween (KSA) 3:46.08 minutes, 1; Chaminda Wijekon (Sri) 3:47.01, 2; Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:48.44, 3; Sunil Kumar (Ind) 3:49.38, 5. Pole vault: Liu Feiliang (Chn) 5.60 metres,1; Yang Quan (Chn) 5.45, 2; Daichi Sawano (Jpn) 5.45, 3. Shot put: Om Prakash Singh (Ind) 19.87 metres, 1; Chang Ming-Huang (Tpe) 19.34, 2; Zhang Jun (Chn) 19.15, 3; Saurabh Vij (Ind) 18.09, 9.

Women: 100M hurdles: Sun Ya Wei (Chn) 13.19 seconds, 1; Asuka Terada (Jpn) 13.20, 2; Dedeh Erawati (Ina) 13.32, 3. 400M: Asami Tanno (Jpn) 53.32 seconds, 1; Chen Lin (Chn) 53.55, 2; Manjeet Kaur (Ind) 53.66, 3; Mandeep Kaur (Ind) 53.76, 4. 1500M: Zhou Hai Yan (Chn) 4:32.74 minutes, 1; Liu Fang (Chn) 4:33.35, 2; Truong Thanh Hang (Vie) 4:33.46, 3; Bindhu Simon Rajam (Ind) 4:33.73, 4; Sushma Devi (Ind) 4:35.04, 5.Triple jump: Olga Rypakova (Kaz) 14.53 metres, 1; Xu Ting Ting (Chn) 14.11, 2; Irina Litvinenko (Kaz) 13.99, 3; Prajusha MA (Ind) 12.58, 8; Reshmi Bose (Ind) 12.18, 10. Hammer: Zhang Xiu (Chn) 72.07 metres, 1; Hao Shu Ai (Chn) 65.87, 2; Yuka Murofushi (Jpn) 61.99, 3; Sukanya Mishra (Ind) 55.30, 6. Heptathlon: Yuliya Tarasova (Uzb) 5,840 points, 1; Yuki Nakata (Jpn) 5,582, 2; Mei Yi Duo (Chn) 5,460, 3.