As he completed his second throw at the 25th Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok on Friday, Tajinderpal Singh Toor felt the old groin pain returning to haunt him.
The groin injury had forced Asian record-holder Toor to pull out of the last year’s Oregon World Championships and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and he was very worried.
Toor could manage just two throws but, fortunately, his second effort (20.23m) was good enough to help him retain his gold.
“I felt the groin pain the day I arrived in Bangkok, during my first training session. I took treatment but the pain cropped up again today. It aggravated after the second throw and I couldn’t continue,” said the 28-year-old, also the Asian Games champion.
“I had the pain before the recent inter-State Nationals (in Bhubaneswar) too and I had recovered after that.”
India won another gold, through Parul Chaudhary who played a patient waiting game in the women’s 3000m steeple chase while young long jumper Shaili Singh brought a silver from her first outing at a major outdoor championship.
Parul shadowed Japan’s Chikako Mori and Reimi Yoshimura for a major part of the race and gained the lead with about 600m to the finish. She extended the lead in the last lap and won by an impressive margin.
“I could have clocked a faster time but the race was a bit slow,” said Parul after winning her maiden Asian title.
Meanwhile 19-year-old Shaili, the 2021 under-20 Worlds silver medallist, was in the lead midway through the long jump with her opening effort of 6.54m. But the seasoned Japanese Sumire Hata grabbed the lead and the gold with a 6.74 in her fourth round and then finished with a mighty 6.97m that bettered her personal best by 22cm in just about two months.
“I was not very comfortable on the runway, I couldn’t get a proper rhythm,” explained Shaili.
Later Singapore’s Veronica Shanti Pereira, who has been on a national record-breaking spree this year, stunning everybody by emerging as the championships’ fastest woman in an Asia-leading time of 11.20s. It was Singapore’s first-ever gold in a sprint event at the Asians.
There were no such surprises in the men’s section where Japan’s Hiroki Yanagita, this year’s Asian leader, won the 100m.
The results (medallists and Indian performances):
Men: 100m: 1. Hiroki Yanagita (Jpn) 10.02s, 2, Abdullah Abkar Mohammed (KSA) 10.19, 3. Hassan Taftian (IRI) 10.23.
110m hurdles: 1. Shunya Takayama (Jpn) 13.29s, 2. Xu Zhuoyi (Chn) 13.39, 3. Yaqoub Alyouha (Kuw) 13.56.
3000m steeple chase: 1. Ryoma Aoki (Jpn) 8:34.91s, 2. Yaser Salem Bagharab (Qat) 8:37.11, 3. Seiya Sunada (Jpn) 8:39.17, 4. Kishan Bal (Ind) 8:46.98, Nurhasan Mohammed (Indi) DNF.
Shot put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Ind) 20.23m, 2. Mehdi Saberi (IRI) 19.98, 3. Ivan Ivanov (Kaz) 19.87.
Women: 100m: 1. Veronica Shanti Pereira (SGP) 11.20s, 2. Farzaneh Fasihi (IRI) 11.39, 3. Ge Manqi (Chn) 11.40.
3000m steeple chase: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Ind) 9:38.76s, 2. Xu Shuangshuang (Chn) 9:44.54, 3. Reimi Yoshimura (Jpn) 9:48.48, 4. Priti (Ind) 9:48.50.
Long jump: 1. Sumire Hata (Jpn) 6.97m MR, OR China’s Yingnan Guan’s 6.83 1998; 2. Shaili Singh (Ind) 6.54, Zhong Jiawei (Chn) 6.46, 4. Ancy Sojan (Ind) 6.41.
Pole vault: 1. Li Ling (Chn) 4.66m, 2. Niu Chunge (Chn) 4.51, 3. Chayanisa Chomchuendee (Tha) 4.10, Baranica Elangovan (Ind) no mark.
Discus throw: 1. Feng Bin (Chn) 66.42m MR, OR 65.36; 2. Wang Fang (Chn) 58.49, 3. Subenrat Insaeng (Tha) 55.80.
