THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tajinderpal Singh Toor was the centre of attraction in the Indian Grand Prix 2 at the Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (LNCPE), Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.
Toor, who had already breached the Asian Games qualification mark earlier this month, didn’t disappoint and came up with an effort of 19.76m to finish first in the men’s shot put. Toor’s statemate Karanveer Singh came second with a throw of 19.17m while Delhi’s Sahib Singh finished third with a throw of 19.07m.
"Asian Games is my primary target. I've been participating in a couple of competitions and I'm happy with the slow but steady progress I am making," said Toor, who covered a distance of 19.95m in the 2nd Indian Open Throws and Jumps Competition at Vijayanagar in the first week of March.
Despite a spectacular show by Toor, it was Keralite Jinson Johnson who stole the limelight in the GP with a comeback victory in the men’s 1500m. The national record holder in the 1500m, Jinson, has been out of action for more than a year with a tendon injury on his right leg. This was his first competitive race after the injury layoff and he returned to the track with a superlative show.
Delhi’s Rahul (3.47.00 min), who crossed the finish line behind Jinson, was leading the race until the last 200m of the race. But Jinson accelerated in the final stretch to pull ahead of Rahul and crossed the finish line with a time of 3.44.52 to bag gold. Prakash Balu Gadade (3:48.57) of Maharashtra finished third.
The men’s triple jump saw a tight fight between Kerala triplets and training partners ---- Eldhose Paul, Karthik U and Abdulla Aboobacker --- who bagged the first, second and third spots respectively. Eldhose (16.27m), who covered his best distance on the second attempt said that he was not satisfied with the performance.
"We were underprepared for the competition. This being an offseason we were not planning to take part in the meet. But the federation put a lot of pressure on us and hence we came to give it a shot," said Eldhose.
Interestingly, Aboobacker's five of the six attempts were red flagged but he managed to find a distance of 15.77m in his third attempt which was good enough to fetch him bronze.
Earlier, PU Chitra and Hima Das turned out to be the big disappointments of the meet. Out of action for the past six months due to a shin injury, Chitra made her first competitive appearance this year in the women's 1500m but finished last with a time of 4.46.99min.
Chitra later said that she is yet to reach her full fitness and participated in the event to know how her body reacts. In the women's 200m, favourite Hima Das was disqualified after she took off before the gunshot. But she had the consolation of winning a silver in the women’s 100m later.
