Gold for Manpreet and G Laxmanan
India’s Manpreet Kaur and Govindan Laxmanan won gold in their respective events on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday.
Manpreet claimed the gold medal in the women’s shot put, while Laxmanan emerged triumphant in the men’s 5,000 metres.
Meanwhile, Vikas Gowda failed to defend his title in the men’s discus throw event, ending up with a bronze medal. Gowda was far below his best on Thursday -- he managed a best throw of 60.81m, way below his season’s best of 62m.
Manpreet, who won gold with a throw of 18.28 metres, will now focus on the IAAF World Championships in London next month. She had booked her ticket for the Worlds in April, during the Asian Grand Prix in China, with a throw of 18.86m.
The thrower from Punjab said that the performance at the Asian meet was a big bonus and a confident boost. “I was confident of winning the title on home soil,” said Manpreet.
Meanwhile, Lakshmanan won gold with a time of 14 minutes, 54. 48 seconds in the men’s 5,000m race. “Before the race I
thought to kick for home at 120m mark. Since the race was slow I changed my mind to head home at the 700m mark,” he said. “But it was humid and again I changed my mind to stay with the leading bunch and then move ahead in the last lap.’’
At the long jump pit, Neena V and Nayana James won silver and bronze medals, respectively.