GOPI QUALIFIES FOR WORLDS
NEW DELHI: India’s Asian marathon champion Gopi Thonakal qualified for the World Athletics Championships to be held in Doha in September-october after finishing 11th at the Seoul International Marathon.
The 30-year-old clocked his personal best of 2 hours 13 minutes 39 seconds in the marathon on Sunday, bettering the World Championships qualification mark of 2:16:00. His earlier best was 2:15:16 last year.
Gopi’s time is the second best by an Indian after the four-decade old national record of 2:12:00, which is held by Shivnath Singh.
The Seoul Marathon is a IAAF Gold label event. Gopi won the Asian marathon title in Dongguan, China in 2017.
have been doing a lot of hard work but off-field issues impact performance,” she said.
There was drama before the race as the starter’s gun didn’t go off twice. But the World U-20 champion in 400m said, “I didn’t pay attention and remained focused. I won’t like to comment on that (misfiring gun).”
Hima, as always, had a slow start and, at 200m mark it seemed a podium finish would elude her as she was placed fourth. But she shifted gears at the last bend and crossed the finish line ahead of the more experienced quartermiler MR Poovamma, who timed 53.15 sec. Gujarat’s Saritaben Gayakwad was third in 53.28 sec.
Kerala’s 20-year-old Jisna Mathew, coached by PT Usha, had a good start and was in contention till the 300m mark, but faded away to fifth in 53.34 sec.
After the race, Hima seemed in
SWAPNA QUALIFIES
Asian Games champion in heptathlon Swapna Barman booked a Doha Asian Championships ticket, amassing 5,900 points, 100 points more than the qualification mark. Kerala’s Jinson Johnson overcame a calf injury to clock 3:41.47 in 1500m to also secure a Doha berth.
“’I’m satisfied as it’s the first race of the season for me,” said Johnson, who skipped the Indian Grand Prix due to injury.
In men’s 3000m steeplechase, Army’s Avinash Sable clocked 8:28.94 sec, improving on his national record of 8:29.80 set last year in Bhubaneswar. His performance too fetched him a berth in the Asian Championships squad, along with Shankar Lal Swami who timed 8:34.66. The qualifying time was 8:35.00.
The men’s quartermile race was even more exciting as Tamil Nadu’s Rajiv Arokia outsprinted national record holder and Jakarta Asian Games silver medallist Muhammad Anas to clinch gold, clocking 45.73 sec, which was better than the qualifying time of 45.85.