India’s Asian Games gold medallist duo of shot putter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor and 1500m runner Jinson Johnson crashed out of the World Athletics Championships in the qualification round in Doha on October 3.
24-year-old Toor produced season’s best effort of 20.43m to finish eighth in the qualification round Group B and 18th overall out of 34 competitors while Jinson ran a below par 3 minutes 39.86 seconds to end 10th in his first round heats and 34th overall out of 43 runners.
Toor was the first to take the field but with eight shot putters from Group A having already touched the automatic final round qualifying mark of 20.90m, it was a difficult task for Toor, who has a personal best — also national record — of 20.75m, to make the cut.
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He opened with a 20.43m, bettering his earlier season’s best of 20.36m, but fouled his next attempt.
Pressure mounted on him as three competitors from Group B touched the automatic qualifying mark in their first attempt while another shot putter did the same in the second round.
That meant Toor will have to touch 20.90m and rewrite his own national record in his third and final attempt if he has to qualify for the finals.
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But it was too tough a task for Toor as he could only come up with a 19.55m effort to crash out of the championships.
Those who touched 20.90m or at least 12 best performers were to make it to the final and eventually 12 shot putters from Group A and Group B combined were able to cross the automatic qualifying mark for the finals.
Reigning world champion and 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Tomas Walsh of New Zealand led the finalists with a throw of 21.92m.
Toor had won a gold in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta with his national record setting effort of 20.75m. He also won a gold in the Asian Championships at the same venue in April with a throw of 20.22m.
It was more disappointment for India as the 28-year-old Jinson, who broke his own national record just last month with a time of 3:35.24, failed to preserve enough energy for the home stretch as he was overtaken by one competitor after another to run more than four seconds outside his best timing.
He was among the leading five till the final bell but he fell behind towards the end.
The top six from each of the three heats and the next six fastest advanced to the semifinals.