Tajinder Pal Singh Toor
Photo: twitter
Expansion
Indian shot putter Tejinderpal Singh continued his dominance on the continental circuit as he retained the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships here on Friday. However, he came out limping after his best effort in the second throw. Asian record holder Toor threw the shot put at a distance of 20.23 meters in the second throw. Iran’s Saberi Mehdi (19.98m) took the silver and Kazakhstan’s Ivan Ivanov (19.87m) won the bronze. India has so far won nine medals, including five gold, one silver and three bronze medals. In 2019, India won 16 medals.
The 28-year-old Toor is the third shot putter to have retained the Asian Championship title. Qatar’s Bilal Saad Mubarak has achieved this feat twice, winning two consecutive gold medals in 1995 and 1998 and 2002 and 2003. Kuwait’s Mohammad Gharib Al Zinqawi won the first position three times in a row in 1979, 1981 and 1983. Toor had qualified for the World Championships with a new Asian record throw of 21.77m at the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar last month.
Injury concern ahead of World Championships
The seriousness of Tour’s injury is yet to be known but it could be a matter of concern for him as the World Championships (17 to 27 August) begin in Budapest a month later. Toor had missed the 2022 World Championships due to a groin strain, an injury he had picked up before the tournament and also ruled him out of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Tour also underwent surgery on his left throwing wrist shortly after the Tokyo Olympics. He took part on Friday with a bandage on his left wrist.
Gold for Meerut’s Parul, Silver for Jhansi’s style
In the 3000m steeplechase, Parul Chowdhary of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh won the gold for the first time in an international event. Jhansi’s long jumper Shaili Singh won the silver with a jump of 6.54 metres, winning a medal for the first time in the Asian Championships. Japan’s Sumire Hata (6.97) won the gold and China’s Zhong (6.97) won the bronze. India’s Ansi Sojan (6.41) finished fourth. Parul trained in America this year. He clocked 9:38.76 here. She was close to her personal best time of 9:29.51 seconds. Beating China’s Xuan Shuang (9:44.54) and Japan’s Yoshimura (9:48.48). The women’s 3000m steeplechase was introduced in 2007 and has been India’s dominant force since its inception. Earlier Sudha Singh (2013 and 2017) and Lalita Babadar (2015) have won gold for India. Parul had earlier finished fourth and fifth in 2017 and 2019. Chaudhary had won a bronze medal in the 5000 meters at the 2019 Asian Championships.
Shelly’s first medal at the senior level
Trained by the legendary Anju Bobby George, 19-year-old long jumper Shaili Singh won a silver medal in her first major competition at the senior level. He had won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in 2021. This year he had a jump of 6.76. Shelly had already cleared 6.54m in her first attempt on Friday and was leading midway through the competition but Japan’s Sumire cleared 6.74 in her fourth attempt and further improved it with 6.97 in her sixth and final attempt. Gave.
Gold medal winners in this championship have chances to qualify for the Budapest World Championships. World Athletics says that if there is no entry of a better athlete on the basis of ranking, then the winner of the Asian Championship will qualify for the World Championship.