India’s Anas misses bronze, Hima in final
gold coast — Indian quartermiler Mohammad Anas regis- tered a national record but that was not enough to give him a podium finish in the men’s 400 metres at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Tuesday.
Reigning Asian champion Anas finished the race in 45.31 seconds to improve on his own national record mark, while the bronze medallist of the event, Javon Francis delivered a season best with a timing of 45.11 seconds.
The gold medal went to Botswana’s Isaac Makwala, who completed the race in 44.35, while a 45.09 effort fetched compatriot Baboloki Thebe a silver medal.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 400m semifinals, India’s Hima Das posted a personal best of 51.53
i didn’t expect ahmed to be this good. He surprised me with his speed Amit Panghal
seconds to improve on her previous best of 51.97 seconds to advance to the final.
She finished third in the semifinal 1. She reached the final on the basis of having the top-two timings among the competitors who didn’t finish top-two in each of the three heats. Indian boxers Amit Panghal (49kg) and Naman Tanwar (91kg) assured themselves medals on debut after advancing to the semifinals.
Amit defeated Scotland’s Aqeel Ahmed in a split 4-1 verdict. The 19-year-old Naman, on the other hand, hammered Samoa’s Frank Masoe 5-0 in his quarterfinal clash to move into the medal round.
“I didn’t expect Ahmed to be this good. He surprised me with his speed and my counter-attack wasn’t working at all. The coaches then told me to go all out aggressive which is what got me the results that I wanted,” Amit said.
Chasing a third successive international gold, the 22-yearold from Haryana overcame a rusty start to turn the tables on his opponent.
“This is definitely going to be the biggest medal of my career so far. There is no doubt about that,” he said.
Amit had lost the opening round on a majority decision but came back strongly to clinch the bout and a spot in the semifinals in his maiden appearance at a multi-sport event.
He had won gold medals at the India Open and the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria before coming into the Games.
Naman is a former bronze-medallist from the youth world championships and defeated Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan in the national trial to clinch a spot in the team.
TheDelhi-boxertooktoboxingtolose weight. He will be up against Australia’s Jason Whateley in his semifinal clash on Friday.
Earlier, M C Mary Kom (48kg) had assured herself of a medal at the event, winning her opening round clash. —