He produced a series of fine throws on his way to the discus gold with a new meet record. He also touched 60m for the first time in his career.
Kirpal won on his fourth attempt, registering 61.83m; it was one of his four successive throws that went past 60m.
Makes the grade
No Indian male since Vikas Gowda has perhaps looked this good hurling a discus. Kirpal’s show was good enough to meet the qualifying standard for the Asian Games.
He also broke the meet record that had stood for 22 years. It had been set by Anil Kumar (59.55m). Gowda’s National record, established in 2012, is quite some way off though — at 66.28m.
Here, Kirpal was too good for the field. Silver medallist Parshant Malik of Haryana (54.11m) and Amit Kumar of Rajasthan (52.95m) were barely in the picture.
K.M. Chanda of Delhi also ran past the Asian Games qualifying mark in the women’s 800m. The 20-year-old clocked 2:02.11 to win the gold, ahead of Lili Das of Bengal and Yamuna Ladkat of Maharashtra.
The results:
Men: 800m: 1. Krishan Kumar (Har) 1:47.43, 2. P. Mohammed Afsal (Ker) 1:47.45, 3. Anu Kumar (Utt) 1:47.81.
Pole vault: 1. Siva (TN) 4.90m & Gokul Nath (TN) 4.90m, 3. A. Gnana Sone (TN) 4.90m.
Discus: 1. Kirpal Singh (Pun) 61.83m (NMR; OR: 59.55m), 2. Parshant Malik (Har) 54.11, 3. Amit Kumar (Raj) 52.95.
Women: 800m: 1. K.M. Chanda (Del) 2:02.11, 2. Lili Das (Ben) 2:03.23, 3. Yamuna Ladkat (Mah) 2:03.39.
Triple jump: 1. Karthika Gothandapani (TN) 13.14m, 2. Sandra Babu (Ker) 12.98m, 3. S. Nandhini (TN) 12.92m.
High jump: 1. Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 1.83m, 2. Gracena Merly (TN) 1.83m, 3. Kevinaa Ashwine Annavi (TN) 1.71m.
Discus: 1. Seema Punia (UP) 54.83m, 2. Nidhi Rani (Har) 52.18m, 3. Sonal Goyal (Del) 50.62m.
Heptathlon: 1. Swapna Burman (Ben) 5800 pts., 2. Mareena George (Ker) 5249, 3. Sonu Kumari (Har) 4961.
