BANGKOK, July 14: India’s shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor stamped his authority in the continental circuit by defending his Asian Athletics Championships title but limped out of the competition after his gold-winning second round throw here on Friday.
The Asian record holder Toor sent the iron ball to a distance of 20.23m in his second round throw but did not take further part as he limped out after the effort, holding his groin.
Saberi Mehdi (19.98m) of Iran and Ivan Ivanov (19.87m) of Kazakhstan took home the silver and bronze respectively.
Parul Chaudhary then won her maiden 3000m steeplechase title in a major international event to swell India’s gold tally in the competition to five.
Young long jumper Shaili Singh also clinched her maiden medal — a silver — in her first major international event on yet another productive day for India.
India has so far won nine medals — five gold, one silver and three bronze.
After a bronze on Wednesday, India added three gold and two bronze medals on Thursday.
All the gold winners in the Asian Championships have a high chance of qualifying for the World Championships (August 19-27) in Budapest, Hungary.
Under the World Championships qualifying criteria, continental champions qualify for the showpiece on the condition that there is no better entry (by world rankings) of another athlete from the same area in the same event.
Toor was the outright favourite to win the shot put gold. He began with a 19.80m effort before his gold-winning 20.23m throw.
The 28-year-old Toor became only the third shot putter to defend the Asian Championships title.
Qatari Bilal Saad Mubarak had achieved the feat twice by winning consecutive titles in 1995 and 1998, and again in 2002 and 2003.
Mohd Gharib Al Zinkawi of Kuwait had won the title thrice in a row – 1979, 1981 and 1983.
Seven Indians had earlier won shot put gold in the Asian Championships.
The extent of Toor’s injury is not yet known but it could be a cause of concern for him as the World Championships begin in Budapest in just over a month.
The 28-year-old Chaudhary, who trained in the United States earlier this year, broke off from the pack towards the end and won comfortably with a time of 9 minutes and 38.76 seconds. Her timing was well outside her personal best of 9:29.51s which she had clocked in May in the USA.
Shuangshuang Xu (9:44.54s) of China and Yoshimura Reimi (9:48.48s) of Japan bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase, which was introduced in 2007, is an event dominated by India.
Sudha Singh (2013 and 2017) and Lalita Babar (2015) had earlier won gold for the country.
Chaudhary had finished fourth and fifth in 2017 and 2019.
She won a 5000m bronze in the 2019 Asian Championships. She holds the national record in that event. (PTI)
