KOCHI: Olympian Manpreet Kaur produced a stunning 18.86m effort as she comfortably broke her own National record and won the women’s shot put gold at the athletics Asian Grand Prix in Jinhua, China, on Monday.
Manpreet broke her National record of 17.96m, set two years in the National Open in Kolkata, with her third effort of 18.03m and then came up with the big one.
That saw the Patiala-based Railway athlete easily qualify for this August’s World Championships in London where the entry standard is 17.75m.
Silver for Neeraj, Tintu
Meanwhile, under-20 World champion and World record-holder Neeraj Chopra, who has a personal best of 86.48m, won a silver with 82.11m.
Chopra, who had a shoulder problem midway through last year, had failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics but made up for that by bringing the country’s first World junior championship medal.
The qualification standard for the Worlds, in London, is 83m. Taipei’s Cheng Chao-Tsun won the gold with 84.72m.
Kerala’s 800m runners Jinson Johnson and Tintu Luka, in the men’s and women’s sections, along with long jumper V. Neena came up with silver medals.
Tintu, the Asian champion, clocked 2.03.59s for the silver with China’s Wang Chun Yu taking the gold in 2:03.25. Johnson clocked 1:50.71 for the men’s silver in the two-lapper.
Meanwhile, Neena’s women’s long jump silver came in 6.46m.
Dutee Chand, the National record-holder, won the women’s 100m bronze in 11.59 secs, behind Kazakh runners Viktoriya Zyabkina (11.44) and Olga Safranova (11.59).
There was also a bronze in men’s shot put through Om Prakash Singh Karhana.
