Bhubaneswar: India picked up their first medal ? a bronze ? through discus thrower and defending champion Vikas Gowda on the opening day of the 22nd Asian Athletics championship at the Kalinga Stadium here today.
Iran’s Olympic silver medallist and four-time Asian champion Ehsan Hadadi roared back to take gold with a throw of 64.54m. Irfan Muhammad of Malaysia finished second with 60.96m, and Gowda was third with 60.81m.
Gowda, winner of gold in the last two editions, failed to produce the form and settled for bronze. His medal winning throw was his fourth throw and the only one that went past 60m mark. His fifth throw was not measured.
Earlier, in the preliminary run for women in 100m, Dutee Chand of India qualified for the semifinals with a good run in Heat No 3. The race had a false start by China’s only entry Feng Lulu and she was disqualified.
Dutee’s 11.40s was the best of the heats and she goes into the semifinals high on confidence. Sri Lanka’s Rumeshika Rathnayake also was disqualified for false start.
India’s 100m spring champion Amiya Kumar Mallick finished third in his heat with a time of 10.48s. (UNI)
