National Open Athletics C’ships
Ranchi, Sep 29: Samardeep Gill upstaged two time Asian Games champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor for the men’s shot put title at the National Open Athletics Championships here on Monday.
In the afternoon session, the focus was on Gill, a promising Madhya Pradesh thrower and six years younger to Toor. After a nervous start, Gill took time to regain his composure and raced to victory with a throw of 19.79m on his last attempt.
Gill had series of 18.78m, 18.92m, 19.36m, 19.14m and 19.79m.
Toor, meanwhile, said that he was not feeling good to push hard. Toor had a series of 18.82m, F, 18.39m, 19.13m, 18.94m and 19.32m.
In other events, Indian Army’s teenaged race walker, Nitin Gupta, outclassed more experienced athletes to stamp his authority in the men’s 20km race walk.
Gupta, who will celebrate his 18th birthday in January next, passed a sterner test of winning a medal, a gold, on his debut in the senior national competition. (PTI)
