Poovamma, Liksy add silver to India's kitty

M R Poovamma and Liksy Joseph struck silver in contrasting fashion to boost India’s medal count even as Qatar’s Femi Ogunode set a continental record in the men’s 100 metres on the second day of the 21st Asian Athletics Championships here on Thursday.

Poovamma, struggling to find her best form, clocked 53.07 seconds to win the silver in the women’s 400 metres, finishing behind China’s Yang Huizhen (52.37). Poovamma had won silver in the previous edition of the Asians at Pune in 2013.

Having hardly competed this season, Poovamma faltered in her judgment of the pace and could not come close to her best of 51.75 seconds, or even her semifinal timing of 52.94. “It was not a well-judged race and I ended up with poor timing,” admitted the Karnataka runner. “This will not stop me, I will work harder and be back stronger and faster,” she added.

Heptathlete Liksy, who was in fourth position after day one, rallied superbly on the second day. She moved up to third with a 6.19-metre effort in long jump and did well in the 800M (2:13.4) to pull herself up by another notch. With a total of 5554 points, she finished behind Uzbekistan’s Ekaterina Vornina, who won the gold with 5689 points.Liksy’s compatriot Purnima Hembram also did well to claim the bronze with 5511 points.

Distance runner G Lakshmanan claimed India’s fourth medal of the day, a bronze in the 5000 metres. Lakshmanan clocked 13:36.62, a personal best, to come behind Mohammed Al Garni (13:34.47) of Qatar and Albert Rop (13:35.26) of Bahrain.

Femi, who had set the Asian 100M record of 9.93 seconds at the Asian Games in Incheon last year, improved it to 9.91 seconds, leaving his rivals way behind, supported up a tail-wind of 1.8 metres per second. China’s Zhang Peiming’s silver came in 10.15 seconds, underlining Femi’s dominance.

Japan’s Chisato Fukushima regained the women’s 100M crown, running a wind-assisted 11.23 seconds. India’s Srabani Nanda was fifth in 11.48. Indian long jumpers Ankit Sharma and Kumarvel Premkumar finished fourth and fifth respectively. Ankit, who had to withstand severe pressure after he was originally left out of the squad, leapt to 7.76 metres, three centimetres behind China’s bronze winner Tang Gongchen. Premkumar was fifth with 7.69 metres. 

India’s Arokia Rajiv came seventh in the men’s 400 metres in 46.65 seconds. The race was won by Qatar’s young sensation Abdelilah Haroun Hassan in 44.68 seconds beating the favourite and Asian record holder Youssef Ahmed Masrahi (45.14) of Saudi Arabia.

Both the Indian sprint relay teams finished outside the medals zone. The men’s 4x100 team, after a controversial selection process, timed 39.67 seconds for the sixth place. The quartet comprised Jyoti Shankar Debnath, K K Rane, Amiya Kumar Mallick and Abdul Najeeb Qureshi, after Manikanda Arumugam, a last-minute inclusion, failed to get his visa on time.

The women’s team of Sini S, Padmini M G, Srabani Nanda and Dutee Chand clocked 45.72 for the fourth spot. They had timed 44.99 in the trials.

Results: Men: 100M: Femi Seun Ogunode (Qatar) 9.91 seconds (Asian record. Old: 9.93, Femi 2013), 1; Zhang Peiming (China) 10.15, 2; Reza Ghasemi (Iran) 10.19, 3.

400M: Abdelilah Haroun Hassan (Qatar) 44.68 seconds, 1; Youssef Ahmed Masrahi (Saudi Arabia) 45.14, 2; Kentaro Sato (Japan) 46.09, 3. Arokia Rajiv (India) 46.65, 6. 5000M: Mohammed Al Garni (Qatar) 3:34.47, 1; Albert Rop (Bahrain) 13:35.26, 2; G Lakshmanan (India) 13:36.62, 3.

Pole vault: Zhang Wei (China) 5.60 metres, 1; Seito Yamamoto (Japan) 5.50, 2; Bokai Huang (China) 5.50, 3.

Long jump: Gao Xinglong (China) 7.96 metres, 1; Ted Hooper (Chinese Taipei) 7.80, 2; Tang Gongchen (China) 7.79, 3. Ankit Sharma (India) 7.76, 4; Kumarvel Premkumar (India) 7.69, 5.

Hammer throw: Dilshod Nazarov (Tajikistan) 77.68 metres, 1; Ashraf Amgad Elseify (Qatar) 76.03, 2; Wan Yong (China) 73.40, 3.

4x100M relay: China 39.04 seconds, 1; Hong Kong 39.25, 2; Chinese Taipei 39.35, 3. India (Jyoti Shankar Debnath, KK Rane, Amiya Kumar Mallick, Abdul Najeeb Qureshi) 39.67 seconds, 6.

Women: 100M: Chisato Fukushima (Japan) 11.23 seconds, 1; Viktoriya Zyabkina (Kazakhstan) 11.34, 2; Wei Yongli (China) 11.46, 3. Srabani Nanda (India) 11.48, 5.

400M: Yang Huizhen (China) 52.37 seconds, 1; M R Poovamma (India) 53.07, 2; Anastassiya Kudinova (Kazakhstan) 53.41, 3.

5000M: Betlhayneh Desalegn (UAE) 15:25.15, 1; Alia Mohammed (UAE) 15:28.74, 2; Daria Maslova (Kyrgysztan) 15:42.82, 3.

Discus throw: Su Xinye (China) 63.90 metres, 1; Tan Jian (China) 62.97, 2; Lu Xiaoxin (China) 62.30, 3. Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (India) 51.66, 6.

Heptathlon: Ekaterina Voronina (Uzbekistan) 5689 points, 1; Liksy Joseph (India) 5554, 2; Purnima Hembram (India) 5511, 3.

4x100M relay: China 43.10 seconds, 1; Japan 44.14, 2; Thailand 44.73, 3. India (Sini S, Padmini M G, Srabani Nanda, Dutee Chand) 45.72, 4.