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Sinimole Paulose completes double

Vinod bags heptathlon gold
Indian women’s 4x400m team takes gold

— File Photo

Sinimole Paulose.

DOHA: Sinimole Paulose, P. J. Vinod and the women’s 4x400 metres relay team added to India’s gold medal collection on the concluding day of the third Asian indoor athletics championships at the Aspire Academy here on Saturday

Sinimole completed a middle distance double effortlessly winning the 800 metres, Vinod fought out a grim battle with an Iranian before coming through with the gold in the gruelling heptathlon while the foursome of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Chitra Soman and Mandeep Kaur clocked a National indoor record of 3:37.46 while winning the relay.

The 24-year-old Sinimole who had won the 1500m gold on the opening day, added the 800m title to her collection, winning with a championship record and a National indoor record of 2:03.43.

Her own national indoor best stood at 2:06.32 that she clocked while winning the silver in the Asian Indoor Games in Macau last year.

In a competitive field, the other Indian in the fray, Sushma Devi, claimed the silver to add to the silver she had won in the 1500m.

She clocked 2:04.66 that was also better than the 2006 mark of 2:07.01.

P. J. Vinod, having a slender lead going into the final event of the heptathlon, 1000 metres, put in everything he had into the five laps for a brilliant 2:52.74 that gave him the gold, ahead of Iranian Hadi Sepehrzad who had led on the opening day. The Iranian clocked 2:54.20 for the fourth place, a rung below Vinod.

Vinod’s overall tally of 5561 equalled his National indoor record of 5561 set while winning the Asian Indoor Games title in Macau last year. Sepehrzad, the Asian outdoors silver winner, settled for the silver again, with a tally of 5515.

Surendra Singh clocked a national indoor record of 7:49.47 while winning the silver in the men’s 3000 metres.

He bettered his own mark of 8:04.99 set in Macau last year. Om Prakash exceeded expectations to bag the shot put silver with a personal best 18.37 metres.

The Indian men’s 4x400m relay team of T. Aboobacker, Vinay Chaudhary, Gurvinder Pal Singh and Virender Kumar Pankaj won the silver behind Saudi Arabia in 3:16.53, a national mark.

India, which entered 32 athletes, won five gold, nine silver and three bronze medals in the three-day meet.

The results:

Men: 800m: 1. Youssef Saad Kamel (Brn) 1:48.03 (EMR), 2. Ehsan Mohajershojei (Iri) 1:48.68, 3. Masato Yokota (Jpn) 1:49.30; 3000m: 1. Sultan Zaman (Qat) 7:49.31, 2. Surendra Singh (Ind) 7:49.47, 3. James Kurui (Qat) 7:50.56, 5. Sandip Kumar (Ind) 8:01.28; Long jump: 1. Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi (KSA) 8. 24 (Asian indoor record), 2. Saleh Al-Haddad (Kuw) 7.88, 3. Hussein Taher Al-Sabee (KSA) 7.72; Shot put: 1. Ahmed Gholoum (Kuw) 18.55 (NMR), 2. Om Prakash (Ind) 18.37, 3. Yao Yonguang (Chn) 18.16, 5. Satyendra Singh (Ind) 17.62; Heptathlon: 1. P. J. Vinod (Ind) 5561, 2. Hadi Sepehrzad (Iri) 5515, 3. Hiromasa Tanaka (Jpn) 5306; 4x400m relay: 1. Saudi Arabia 3:14.25 (NMR), 2. India 3:16.53, 3. Qatar 3:17.93.

Women: 800m: 1. Sinimole Paulose (Ind) 2:03.43 (NMR), 2. Sushma Devi (Ind) 2:04.66, 3. Margarita Matsko (Kaz) 2:04.85; High jump: 1. Tatyana Effimenko (Kgz) 1.91, 2. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.91, 3. Yeketerina Yevseyeva (Kaz) 1.88, 5. Sahana Kumari (Ind) 1.80; 4x400m relay: 1. India 3:37.46 (NMR), 2. Kazakhstan 3:38.10, 3. Thailand 3:43.22.

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