Sree, Yahiya, Manpreet make finals; Dutee exits

Birmingham, Aug. 2: National record holder Murali Sreeshankar topped the men’s long jump qualification round to storm into the finals along with Muhammed Anees Yahiya, who qualified as eighth best, at the Commonwealth Games athletics competition here on Tuesday. Shot putter Manpreet Kaur also made it to the final as one of the nine athletes who could not breach the automatic qualification mark of 18m but one among the best 12 performers.

The 32-year-old Kaur finished fourth in Group B qualification round and seventh overall with a best throw of 16.78m which she achieved in her third and final throw. She has a season’s best of 18.06m and personal best of 18.86m.

However, top Indian sprinter Dutee Chand crashed out of the CWG after finishing 27th overall in the preliminary heat races. The national record holder (11.17s) clocked a disappointing 11.55 seconds to finish fourth in heat number 5.

The 26-year-old Dutee has a season’s best of 11.40s which she had clocked during the National Interstate Championships in June. She had run a windassisted 11.38s in Kazakhstan, also in June.

The 23-year-old Sreeshankar, a gold medal contender, was the lone athlete to breach the automatic qualification mark of 8m, with an opening round effort of 8.05m in Group A.

Yahiya, on the other hand, finished third in Group B qualification round with a best jump of 7.68m. He has a season’s and personal best of 8.15m.

Lakshya Sen outsmarted reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew as India showed their might to blank Singapore 3-0 and enter the mixed team final here. The men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Reddy and Chirag Shetty gave India the lead in the semifinal with a 21-11, 2112 win over Yong Kai Terry Hee and Andu Jun Kian Kwek.

Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu was clinical against 19thranked Jia Min Yeo for a 21-11, 21-12 result to extend India’s lead to 2-0.

The third match between Sen and Loh was the most anticipated rubber of the semifinal with the 10thranked Indian facing the ninth-ranked Singapore player.

Sen, who extended his head to head count over Loh to 4-2, took his chances against the Singaporean and succeeded more often than not.

The Indian used his booming forehand to upset Loh’s rhythm. Sen started slow as Loh took a 4-0 lead in the first game.