India top medals tally with 12 gold
BHUBANESWAR: It was grand double for India’s distance runner G Lakshmanan as he won the 10,000m on the final day of the Asian Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday. On the opening day, Lakshmanan had won gold in the 5,000m. Lakshmanan also etched his name in the record books by becoming the first Indian runner to win gold in both 5,000m and 10,000m event. His wining time was 29:55.87secs. India won as many as five gold on the last day to take their tally to 29 medals including 12 gold and finish on top. China were second with 20 medals. Neeraj Chopra, India’s national record holder in men’s javelin and Swapna Barman also won gold medals on the final day. National 4x400m relay team in both men and women won the other two gold medals of the day.
TINTU DISAPPOINTS
India’s evening session though started on a disappointing note with Tintu Luka, favourite to win gold in the women’s 800m, pulled out after the 500m mark. India’s Archana Adhav won gold, but was later disqualified for pushing a Sri Lanka runner. Tintu’s quitting the race raised eyebrows. There were speculation that she was suffering from flu for the past one week. But there wasn’t any sign of illness during the heats which she won in 2:06secs. Recently, she also participated in an international competition in Almaty and clocked 2:03 secs.
GOLD RUSH
India’s gold medal rush, however, started with Swapna Barman (5942 points) winning the heptathlon. Purnima Hembram (5798 points) won bronze.
It was followed by men’s 10,000m where India finished 1-2. T Gopi took silver behind Lakshmanan.
Lakshmanan has qualified for the Worlds in both the races, but will focus on 5,000m. “I raced here to win medals but in London I will race to improve my time,” he said.
India’s poster boy in athletics Neeraj Chopra dominated the javelin hinting he is on the right track for the Worlds in August. His best throw was 85.23m.