GOPI DISAPPOINTS AS INDIA END CAMPAIGN WITH MIXED RESULTS

Hassan completes unique double on winning 1,500m at Worlds after clinching 10,000m title earlier in the competition

Doha, Oct. 6: Asian champion Gopi Thonakal finished 21st in the men’s marathon race as India ended their World Athletics Championships campaign with mixed results here on Sunday. Laggards at the world stage, the 27member Indian team was not expected to win any medal but they performed better than expected in this world championships with three finalists — in mixed 4x400m relay, men’s 3000m steeplechase and women’s javelin throw. Long jumper Anju Bobby George’s bronze Paris in 2003 still remained India’s only medal at the showpiece event.

Out of the three finals, steeplechaser Avinash Sable and the mixed 4x400m relay team booked Tokyo Olympics quotas while javelin thrower Annu Rani finished a creditable eight. Annu became the first Indian woman to qualify for javelin throw finals while Avinash broke his own national record twice in three days. The 31-year-old Gopi clocked 2 hours 15 minute 57 seconds to end among the top half of 55 runners who completed the race on the Corniche under 29 degree Celcius temperature and around 50 per cent humidity.

He had gone to this World Championships with an aim of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics but he failed to touch the 2:11:30 qualifying mark. On Saturday, the Indian men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams produced disappointing performances while javelin thrower Shivpal Singh came a cropper as they crashed out of the World Championships.

The women’s quartet of Jisna Mathew, M.R. Poovamma, V.K. Vismaya and Venkatesan Subha clocked 3 minutes 29.42 seconds to finish sixth in the heat number one and 11th overall in the first round heats to fail to qualify for the finals.

Later, the men’s team of Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas, K. Suresh Jeevan and Noah Nirmal Tom ran 3:03.09 to finish seventh in heat number 2 and 13th overall out of 16 countries to crash out of the championships. The top three in each of the two heats and the next two fastest teams qualify for the finals. in