Kamalpreet qualifies for Asian meet, Navjeet fails to make cut
PATIALA: Punjab’s discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur overcame a lower-back pain to achieve the Doha Asian Championships qualification mark of 58.50 metres in the women’s section on the opening day of the Federation Cup here on Friday.
The 22-year-old from Bhatinda district opened her account with a throw of 56.43, improving it to 58.97m in her second attempt. Despite fouling here next three attempts, she notched a distance of 60.25 metres in her final throw to win gold. “The pain was unbearable. After consulting medical experts, I took pain killers and was able to compete today,” said Kamalpreet.
She now plans to undergo rehabilitation and then train for the continental competition in April. “I had been suffering from pain for the last one month because of which I missed quite a few training sessions. I wasn’t expecting good results leave alone qualifying for the Asian Championships. But I’m happy with the result,” she added.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Navjeet Kaur Dhillon fell marginally short of the qualification mark for the Asian meet, settling for silver with a throw of 56.36 metres.
In the men’s javelin qualification round, Shivpal Singh earned a Doha berth as his best throw of 81.85 metres was better than the qualification standard of 80.75. Shivpal, a member of the national squad had been training in South Africa since January and came back recently for the Federation Cup. Shivpal said he would aiming for a throw of 83 metres in the finals tomorrow, which will help him qualify for the World Championships in September. “I took it easy in the qualification but will go all out in the final,” he added.
Davinder Singh Kang, whose suspension was revoked by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) recently and who is the favourite to win the javelin event in the absence of Neeraj Chopra, was below par, touching a distance of 71.56. He, however, made it to the 12-player finals. In the 5000m event, holder G Lakshmanan of Tamil Nadu pulled out because of fever. In his absence, Murli Kumar of Gujarat claimed gold, clocking 13:54.33 sec, which was four seconds slower than the Asian qualification.
Parul Chaudhary from Uttar Pradesh, winner of women’s 5000m, clocked 15:58.35 sec but fell short of the Asian qualification mark of 15:50.00. In men’s pole vault, defending champion Siva S of Tamil Nadu improved his meet record to 5.16 metres. His goldwinning efforts was way below the Doha qualifying mark of 5.40.
Asian Games silver medallist in 100m and 200m Dutee Chand had the best time of 23.89 sec in women’s 200m preliminary.
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