Abhishek, Ajay win gold for UP at IGP

LUCKNOW: Abhishek Singh hogged the limelight for Uttar Pradesh at the Indian Grand Prix series 2019 at New Delhi on Wednesday, winning a gold medal in the men’s javelin event, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Ajay Kumar Saroj and Rahul too excelled in the men’s 1500m event, winning gold and silver medals, respectively for Uttar Pradesh.

Abhishek hurled the iron rod to distance of 78.24 metre to win only gold for UP on the day. He was followed by Abhishek Drall of Delhi (75.19m) and Yashvir Singh of Rajasthan (67.95m).

Ajay got back his lost form and won the gold medal in 1500m by clocking a time of 3:46.10. The silver medal went to his state mate Rahul, recording timing of 3:48.15. The bronze medal went to Ankit of Haryana 3:49.90. UP’s Prachi also won a bronze medal in women’s 400m, clocking a timing of 54.74s.

Earlier, Sonam won a bronze medal for Uttar Pradesh, finishing third in the women’s triple jump event, jumping to 12.34 metre. Haryana’s Renu with a jump of 12.76 metre finished top, whereas Kerala’s Sheena (12.45m) finished third. Earlier, Hurdler Dharun Ayyasamy clocked a timing of 49.94s to win his second consecutive gold medal on Wednesday.

The 24-year old improved his timing from 50.07s clocked by him at IGP-1 held in Patiala on Saturday. Santhosh Kumar took the second place with a timing of 50.77s and the bronze medal went to Ramachandran clocking 50.83s. All three medals went to the athletes from Tamil Nadu.

Asian Games Silver Medalist Dutee Chand ran 23.30s to win her second gold medal in the IGP series. The timing will help Dutee Chand improve her IAAF World Ranking in the 200m event. Her timing also ensured that the Odisha sprinter made the qualifying cut-off for the Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Doha.

The silver medal went to Anjali Devi of Haryana with a timing of 24.15s. Supriya Maddal of Andhra Pradesh clocked 24.48s to bag the bronze medal in this event. MR Poovamma and Vismaya V K, part of the Asian Games 4x400m relay winning team, bagged the gold and silver medals in the 400m event. Poovamma clocked 54.12s while Vismaya finished with a timing of 54.76s.

Arokia Rajiv of Tamil Nadu ran 46.49s to win the men’s 400m gold medal.