The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Gold for Navpreet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 19, 2005

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Gold for Navpreet

SIDOARJA (INDONESIA): Shot putter Navpreet Singh and long jumper Maha Singh turned in outstanding performances to account for India's two gold medals in the first Asian Grand Prix circuit meet here on Saturday.

Navpreet produced the best series ever by an Indian shot putter abroad, crossing 19 metres five times before clinching the gold. His winning throw, off his last attempt, measured 19.60 metres. His other 19-plus putts were 19.38, 19.22, 19.29 and 19.48. He had opened with 18.96.

Navpreet had been in great form this season since joining the domestic circuit at Ludhiana, where he had a 19.82. This is his first major international title. He has a personal best of 19.93m recorded at the all-India inter-State at Chennai last year.

The other Indian, Ranvijay Singh disappointed, ending up third behind Chinese Zhang Qi with a putt of 18.38 metres. The Chinese had 19.28m.

Maha Singh, who joined six other Indians earlier this season at Patiala as one who had a 7.90 or better, touched 7.89 on his last attempt to win the long jump competition ahead of the favourite, China's Song Jian. The Punjab man had opened with three successive fouls, which in the normal course would have seen him out of the contest at the championship level. Here, with just five jumpers in the fray, there was no elimination and Maha Singh went onto touch 7.57m to move into the second position.

Silver for Geetha

Sprinter Anil Kumar, quarter-miler Sathi Geetha and discus thrower Krishna Poonia eked out silver medals while Piyush Kumar (100m), Satbir Singh (400m), Poonam Tomar (100m), Sunita Rani (1500m) and Harwant Kaur (discus) claimed bronze.

Geetha clocked a career-best 52.24 seconds while taking the second place behind Kazakhstan's Tatyana Roslanova in the women's 400 metres. In a close race, Geetha made a spirited attempt down the finishing straight to catch up with the Kazakh but ended up a metre behind. Geetha had clocked her previous best of 52.25 seconds last year.

The most outstanding performance of the day came from Chinese discus thrower Song Aimin. She expectedly won the event with 65.23 metres and had more than 10 metres to spare from the second-placed Krishna Poonia. Harwant Kaur was third while Seema Antil continued her poor run, finishing fourth with 53.64 metres.

Among the other Indians who disappointed was 400m hurdler Chitra K. Soman, who finished sixth in 59.13 secs. She had timed a career-best 57.70 secs in Ludhiana, on her return to the intermediate hurdles.

The results:

Men: 100m: 1. John Herman Muray (Ina) 10.45s, 2. Anil Kumar (Ind) 10.47, 3. Piyush Kumar (Ind) 10.56; 400m: 1. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (Sri) 46.19s, 2. S. Amarasekara (Sri) 46.55, 3. Satbir Singh (Ind) 47.30; 800m: 1. Moradi Sadjad (Iri) 1:47.07, 2.Ehsan Mohajershojaei (Iri) 1:47.68, 3. Mohammed Mutlak (Kuw) 1:48.40; 110m hurdles: 1. Wu Youjia (Chn) 13.55s, 2. Rohollan Asgari (Iri) 13.89, 3. Suphan Wongsriphuck (Tha) 14.02; High jump: 1. Wang Hao (Chn) 2.24m, 2. Jean Claude Rabath (Lib) 2.20, 3. Yuriy Pakhlyayev (Kaz) 2.15; Long jump: 1. Maha Singh (Ind) 7.89m, 2. Henry Dagmil (Phi) 7.65, 3. Song Jian (Chn) 7.48; Shot put: 1. Navpreet Singh (Ind) 19.60m, 2. Zhang Qi (Chn) 19.28, 3. Ranvijay Singh (Ind) 18.38; Javelin: 1. Li Rongxiang (Chn) 77.62m, 2. Sergey Voynov (Uzb) 74.66, 3. Rinat Tarzumanov (Uzb) 73.38.

Women: 100m: 1. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.45s, 2. Lyubov Perepelova (Uzb) 11.48, 3. Poonam Tomar (Ind) 11.57; 400m: 1. Tatyana Roslanova (Kaz) 51.79s, 2. S. Geetha (Ind) 52.24, 3. Asami Tanno (Jpn) 53.29; 1500m: 1. Tatyana Borisova (Kgz) 4:13.59, 2. Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz) 4:15.28, 3. Sunita Rani (Ind) 4:20.51; 400m hurdles: 1. Natlya Alimzhanova (Kaz) 56.68s, 2. Satomi Kubokura (Jpn) 57.11, 3. Yao Yuehua (Chn) 57.11; High jump: 1. Tatiana Effimenko (Kgz) 1.90m, 2. Jiang Haiyan (Chn) 1.87, 3. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.87; Long jump: 1. Maristella Torres (Phi) 6.46m, 2. Zhong Mei (Chn) 6.28, 3. Anastasiya Juravleva (Uzb) 6.27; Shot put: 1. Zhang Guirong (Sin) 17.35m, 2. Leei Mi-Young (Kor) 17.33, 3. Iolanta Ulyeva (Kaz) 16.75; Discus: 1. Song Aimin (Chn) 65.23m, 2. Krishna Poonia (Ind) 55.05, 3. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 54.79.