The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Preeja wins gold

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Preeja wins gold

DOHA: Preeja Sreedharan won the second gold medal for India in the third Asian indoor athletics championships, claiming the 3000m in a three-woman field in a championship record time of 9:12.26 at the Aspire Academy here on Friday.

Team-mate Kavita Raut claimed the silver in 9:26.01 while Bahrain’s Sara Yaqoob Bakheet took the bronze in 9:40.47.

Chatholi Hamza ran a personal best 3:41.18 but still could manage only the silver in the men’s 1500m on the second day of the third Asian indoor athletics championships at the Aspire Academy here on Friday. The Indian who finished behind host team’s Thamer Ali (3:40.86) had the satisfaction of bettering the qualifying standard (3:43.00) for the World Indoor championships thus living up to coach Nikolai Snesarev’s expectations.

Triple jumper Amarjeet Singh (16.26m) added silver to India’s tally, coming second to Kazakhstan’s Roman Valiyev (16.32m) while Mandeep Kaur and V. Leelavathi won bronze medals in the women’s 400 metres and 60m hurdles respectively.

Sinimole defends title

On Thursday, Sinimole Paulose defended her 1,500m title and in the process also made the grade for the World indoor championships as she opened India’s golden tally. In a thin field, Sinimole won as expected, clocking 4:15.42 that bettered the World indoor championship qualifying mark of 4:16.00.

India’s second entry in the event that attracted just four runners, Sushma Devi, held off a strong challenge from Sara Yaqoob Bekheet to win the silver in 4:22.78.

Anju George missed the gold medal by just one centimetre. She jumped 6.38m to be just behind Chinese Chen Yaling who took the gold with 6.39m. Anju had won the silver last time also.

India’s M.A. Prajusha, competing for the first time at this level, won the bronze with 6.09m. Hari Sankar Roy ended up with a ‘no mark’ against his name in the high jump competition. The results: Men: 400m: 1. Liu Xiaosheng (Chn) 47.28 (NMR), 2. Sergey Zailkov (Kaz) 48.12, 3. Ali Shirook (UAE) 48.24; 1500m: 1. Thamer Ali (Qat) 3:40.86, 2. Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:41.18, 3. Abubaker Kamal (Qat) 3:42.50; 60m hurdles: 1. Ji Wei (Chn) 7.79, 2. Abdul Rashid (Pak) 7.98, 3. Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) 8.01; Pole vault: 1. Daichi Sawano (Jpn) 5.45, 2. Leonid Andreev (Uzb) 5.35, 3. Takafumi Suzuki (Jpn) 5.35; Triple jump: 1. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.32, 2. Amarjeet Singh (Ind) 16.26, 3. Teerayut Philakong (Tha) 16.04.

Women: 400m: 1. Rakia Al-Ghasara (Bhr) 53.28 (NMR), 2.Marina Maslenko (Kaz) 53.38, 3. Mandeep Kaur (Ind) 54.28; 60m hurdles: 1. Li Jing (Chn) 8.31(NMR), 2. Anastasiya Sprunova (Kaz) 8.34, 3. V. Leelavathi (Ind) 9.21.

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