- July 8, 2017
22nd Asian Athletics Championships–DEBABRAT MOHANTY
TINTU LUKA POISED TO DEFEND WOMEN’S 800m TITLE
Bhubaneswar, 8th July : Tintu Luka remained in contention to defend her women’s 800m title by setting the fastest qualifying time in the morning session on Day 3 at the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships today.
Junior national record holder Lili Das qualified second from Heat 3 in the same competition, while Archana Adhav, the third competitor from India, also made it to the final in a relatively slower Heat 1.
Heavy rains from Friday night gave way to a muggy morning session on Day 3, as India’s hopes of a medal in the men’s 800m also looked bright with 2015 Asian Championships silver medalist Jinson Johnson winning the first heat and qualifying with the third fastest time, just behind Incheon Asian Games bronze medal winner Jamal Hairane of Qatar.
Sho Kawamoto of Japan, however, looked the man to beat after setting the fastest time in qualifying. With a strong line-up fielded by India in the women’s heptathlon, 2015 bronze medalist Purnima Hembram gave a good account of herself in the 100 m hurdles leg of the event, with Swapna Barman finishing fourth in the race.
Swapna Barman, however, set the bar high in the high jump, clearing a distance of 1.89m to top the leader board after two events.
Liksy Joseph, who won silver in Wuhan in 2015, came up with middling performances in both events, looking to make it up in the later stages.While the women’s 100m hurdles event proved disappointing for India’s only participant Nayana James, 2015 Asian Championships bronze medalist remained in medal contention by qualifying for the final.
Amongest the men, Siddhanth Thingalaya, who broke the national record last month, qualified for the final of the 110m hurdles event.
All three Indians – Ankit Sharma, Sham sheer and Siddharth Mohan Naik – qualified for the final of the men’s long jump event. On an evening session that will feature seven medal events.
Amiya Kumar Mallick, who was disqualified from two events on Friday, will have a chance to redeem himself in the hearts of the men’s 200m dash.
India will look to consolidate its position at the top of the medals tally through the 3000m steeplechase set to take place this evening.
In-form Sudha Singh in the women’s race and Asian Games bronze medalist Naveen Kumar will attempt to go for gold in the men’s race.
More medal hopefuls will compete in the finals of women’s triple jump, the 400m hurdles and women’s 4x100m relay.Muhammed Anas, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob all qualify for 400m semis; Vikas Gowda to lead Indian challenge in evening session.
The opening day of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships were high with national record holder Muhammed Anas easing into the semi-finals of the men’s 400m in the morning session.
Incheon Asian Games bronze medalist Arokia Rajiv sailed through in first place in Heat 2 of the same race, just as the third Indian participant in the competition, Amoj Jacob also eased into the next round with a first-place finish in Heat 3.
The semi-finals will be held in the evening session. Anas finished second in Heat 1 behind Sri Lanka’s Dilip Ruwan, while Arokia and Jacob led through the majority of their respective heats to qualify into the next rounds.
Asian indoor championships bronze medalist Ahmed Mubarak of Oman was the winner of Heat 4.
The Asian Athletics Championships kicked off at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar today, with Chitra PU qualifying for the semi-finals from Heat 2 in the women’s 1500m, while Monika Chaudhary finished in fourth place in Heat 1.
In the men’s 1500m, India’s Ajay Kumar Saroj set the pace in Heat 1 of the event and Siddharth Adhikary qualified from Heat 2 with a second-place finish behind Asian Games bronze medal winner Jamal Hairane of Qatar.
In the men’s decathlon that kickstarted the proceedings today, Japan’s Kazuya Kawasaki took an early lead with the 100m sprint leg of the event.
India’s Abhishek Shetty was playing catch-up in a strong field that includes Asian Championships silver medalist Guo Qi from China.
The men’s high jump also got under way with China’s Asian Games silver medalist Zhang Guowei and others setting a modest qualification standard of 2.10m.In the evening session on Day 1, national record-holding discus thrower Vikas Gowda will hope to make it a hat-trick of Asian Championship titles after winning gold in Wuhan (2015) and Pune (2013).
China’s Ding Bangchao, who cleared the bar at 5.70m in Jinan on May 18, will headline the men’s pole vault final, with still challenge coming from Japan’s Masaki Ejima and Husain Asim Al-Hizam of Saudi Arabia.The 5000m will see both the men and women lining up for their respective finals, while the women take the field in the javelin, shot put and long jump finals as well.
The opening day will be spiced up with the heats of the men’s 100m, which includes the Asian record holder and defending champion Femi Seun Ogunode of Qatar, with national champion and local boy Amiya Kumar Mallick hoping to put up a strong show.
