Mayookha Johny added a bronze to her gold won on the opening day by posting a National record of 14.10 metres in the triple jump contest on the third day of the 19th Asian athletics championships here on Saturday.
In the process, the 22-year-old Indian made the qualification grade for the London Olympics and the World championships, both being 14.10m. Being the champion in long jump here she had booked an automatic entry to the World championships in Daegu, Korea, in August, but her Olympic qualification was still pending.
India had another bronze this day, Om Prakash Singh Karhana, defending his shot put title, managing the third place with a season best 19.47 metres.
India now has eight medals, including Mayookha's gold in long jump and Vikas Gowda's silver in discus, with a day to go for the championships. Saturday's two medals brought the bronze collection to six.
National record
Mayookha has been in great form this season, in both long jump and triple jump. She had set a National record of 14.02m in triple jump in the last leg of the Asian Grand Prix in Wujiang, China, in May last. She enlarged it to 14.03m in the third round, and then struck 14.11 in the next to all but make sure of a medal.
She was thrilled that she had booked her London Olympics berth on the back of a genuine qualification mark, something that she had aimed for in long jump also but failed to get.
The field, despite the absence of continental record holder Olga Rypakova of Kazkhstan, busy with the Diamond League in Europe, was still classy and thus even with a 14-metre-plus mark, Mayookha had to settle for the bronze.
Chinese Xie Limei, Doha Asian Games champion and silver winner in the last Asiad, claimed the gold with a jump of 14.54m, her season best. The leading jumper this season in Asia (14.39), Limei's team-mate Li Yanxi, finished fourth with 13.97.
Kazakh Valeriy Kantova had the silver at 14.14, her second-round effort, Mayookha also had jumps of 13.68, 13,72, 13.88 and 13.62. The second Indian, M.A. Prajusha came seventh with 13.63, her first jump.
Om Prakash, based now in Szombathely, Hungary, said a wrist injury suffered just a week earlier in training had hampered him during the competition. His best came in the fifth round.
Touch disappointed
“I was aiming for gold despite not being in my best form. I didn't expect the Taipei athlete (Chang Ming-Huang, with championship record of 20.14m) to do so well. I was thinking the gold would go for around 19.50 to 19.70,” said Om Prakash. He was still hopeful of making the grade (20.00m) for the Worlds in Daegu.
Elsewhere India had disappointments. Asian Games champion Joseph Abraham finished fourth in the 400m hurdles while Asian Games silver winner Kavita Raut was eighth in the women's 5000 metres.
Ghamanda Ram and Sajeesh Joseph, meanwhile, qualified for the final of the 800 metres.
The results:
Men: 5000m: 1. Dejene Regassa Mootoma (Brn) 13:39.71 (NMR, previous 13:41, 70), 2. Yuki Sato (Jpn) 13:40.78, 3. Alemu Bekele Gebre (Brn) 13:41.93; 6. Suresh Kumar (Ind) 14:05.64; 400m hurdles: 1. Takatoshi Abe (Jpn) 49.64, 2. Yuta Imazeki (Jpn) 50.22, 3. Chen Chief (Chn) 50.39; 4. Joseph Abraham (Ind) 50.82, 6. Satinder Singh (Ind) 51.93; High jump: 1. Moataz Essa Barshim (Qat) 2.35 (NMR, previous 2.32), 2. Majid El Dein Ghazal (SYR) 2.28, Shot put: 1. Chang Ming-Huang (Tpe) 20.14 (NMR, previous 19.87), 2. Zhang Jun (Chn) 19.77, 3. Om Prakash Karhana (Ind) 19.47; 4. Saurabh Vij (Ind) 18.72; Hammer: 1. Ali Mohammed Al-Zankawi (Kuw) 73.73, 2. Hiroshi Noguchi (Jpn) 70.89, 3. Hiroaki Doi (Jpn) 70.69;
Women: 5000m: 1. Tejitu Daba Chalshissa (Brn) 15:22.48 (NMR, previous 15:25.65), 2. Hitomi Niiya (Jpn) 15:34.19, 3. Yuriko Kobayashi (Jpn) 15:42.59; 8. Kavita Raut (Ind) 16:23.06; 9. Suriya Loganathan (Ind) 17:19.44; 400m hurdles: 1. Satomi Kubokura (Jpn) 56.52, 2. Yang Qi (Chn) 56.69, 3. Christine Merril (Sri) 57.30; Triple jump: 1. Xie Limei (Chn) 14.54, 2. Valeriya Kanatova (Uzb) 14.14, 3. Mayookha Johny (Ind) 14.11 (NR, previous 14.02); 7. M. A. Prajusha (Ind) 13.63; Pole vault: 1. Wu Sha (Chn) 4.35, 2. Li Ling (Chn) 4.30, 3. Yunhee Choi (Kor) 4.00; Heptathlon: 1. Wassana Winatho (Tha) 5710 pts, 2. Humie Takehara (Jpn) 5491, 3. Chie Kiriyama (Jpn) 5442; 4. Susmita Singha Roy (Ind) 5179.
