He was not sure when an Indian last won the men’s 400m gold at the Asian athletics championships. All that the Kerala quartermiler Muhammed Anas knew was that it felt like a dream after winning the title here on Friday.
It certainly looked like a dream as India won gold after gold, four in all in one happy hour, under a steady drizzle at the Kalinga Stadium here.
Nirmala Sheoran’s yellow, in the women’s 400m, was expected. The Asian leader this season, she was never under threat this evening and all the action happened behind her.
In the end, the young Jisna Mathew fought hard and pipped M.R. Poovamma, the Asian Games bronze medallist and last Asians silver winner, to clinch the bronze, her first at the continental meet in the senior level. Vietnam’s Quach Thi took the silver.
Anas, who was forced to run the semifinal again this morning after protests from a few runners that they were confused with another clap when the gun went off last evening, felt a bit tight but still held off a strong challenge from Tamil Nadu’s Arokia Rajiv.
“This certainly looks like a dream, never did I expect a gold here,” said Anas, the Asian leader this season and also the national record holder.
The biggest surprise came from P.U. Chitra, whose name did not even figure in the Indian team list released to the media initially.
“Yes, this is a big, big surprise… and suddenly, I’m going to the Worlds,” said the Kerala girl after winning the women’s 1500m gold.
A few minutes later Ajay Kumar Saroj, who had been impressive as a junior, battled hard with Qatar’s Jamal Hairane on the home stretch and grabbed the men’s 1500m title.
With six golds in the bag already at the end of the second day, this could turn out to be India’s best-ever Asians and it now looks like the host could probably finish with 15 golds in the four-day event.
However, there was some disappointment too with Amiya Mallick, the country’s fastest man, being disqualified for a false start in the semifinal earlier. The men’s 4x100m relay team was also pushed out in the morning after a zone violation in the heats.
Later, local girl Dutee Chand won a bronze in the women’s 100m with Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina, who has consistently beaten the Indian the last couple of years, taking the gold and her compatriot Olga Safronova the silver.
The results:
Men: 400m: 1. Muhammed Anas 45.77s, 2. Arokia Rajiv 46.14, 3. Ahmed Mubarak (Oma) 46.39.
1500m: 1. Ajay Kumar Saroj 3:45.85s, 2. Jamal Hairane (Qat) 3:46.90, 3. Moslem Naidoost (Irn) 3:48.53.
Triple jump: 1. Zhu Yaming (Chi) 16.82m, 2. Mark Harry Diones (Phi) 16.45, 3. Xu Xiaolong (Chn) 16.45.
Women: 400m: 1. Nirmala Sheoran 52.01s, 2. Quach Thi (Vie) 52.78, 3. Jisna Mathew 53.32.
1500m: 1. P.U. Chitra 4:17.92s, 2. Geng Min (Chn) 4:19.15, 3. Ayako Jinnouchi (Jpn) 4:19.90.
High jump: 1. Nadiya Dusanova (Uzb) 1.84s, 2. Yeung Man Wai (HK) 1.80, Wang Xueyi (Chn) 1.80 & Liu Jingyi (Chn, three girls finish second).
