Tamil Nadu’s Arokia Rajiv won his maiden international 400m gold with a personal best time in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix athletics series here on Thursday.
Gold medals also came from Kerala’s 800m runner Jinson Johnson and Haryana shot putter Inderjeet Singh, their second straight gold in the three-leg series.
Arokia, the 24-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist, clocked a life-best 45.85s but it was not enough to help him qualify for the World Championships in Beijing in August (qualification time 45.50s).
Meanwhile Asian champion Inderjeet, who has already qualified for the Worlds and next year’s Olympics in Rio, was a long way off his personal best but still broke the meet record with a 19.85m effort.
Jinson was a bit slower than his victory in the opening leg of the AGP in Bangkok on Monday but the win was an easy one. The gold medals came with a $1500 cash award.
Tamil Nadu’s M. Gomathi, in the women’s 800m, and Madhya Pradesh’s men’s long jumper Ankit Sharma won silver medals while Odisha sprinter Srabani Nanda, Karnataka quartermiler M.R. Poovamma and Tamil Nadu sprint hurdler G. Gayathri all won bronze medals.
Poovamma’s medal came with a season best time of 52.72s while National Games champion Anilda Thomas, the country’s fastest women’s quartermiler this year with 52.71s, in a poor 54.35s.
The men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams, which failed to finish the race in the AGP’s first leg, won a bronze this time.
THE RESULTS
Men: 100m : 1. Hassan Taftian (Iri) 10.41s, 2. Pan Xin Yue (Chn) 10.55, 3. Bobby Yaspi (Ina) 10.59, 7. Praveen Muthu Kumaran (Ind) 10.70, 16. G. Tamilvanan (Ind) 11.12 (final placings after A and B races).
400m : 1. Arokia Rajiv (Ind) 45.85s, 2. Sajjad Hashemiahangari (Iri) 45.98, 3. Zhu Chenbin (Chn) 46.07. 9. V. Sajin (Ind) 47.15.
800m : 1. Jinson Johnson (Ind) 1:49.85s, 2. Induril Herath (Sri) 1:50.23, 3. Moselem Niadoost (Iri) 1:51.12.
4x100m relay : 1. Hong Kong (39.44s), 2. Thailand (39.45), 3. India (Jyothisankar Debnath, Krishnakumar Rane, Amiyakumar Malik, Manikandan Arumugam, 39.60).
110m hurdles : 1. Alyouha Yaqoub (Kuw) 13.64s, 2. Jamras Rittidet (Tha) 13.87, 3. Kittipong Kongdee (Tha) 14.14, 6. K. Premkumar (Ind) 14.25.
Long jump : 1. Tang Gongchen (Chn) 7.87m, 2. Ankit Sharma (Ind) 7.80), 3. Sobhan Taherkhani (Iri) 7.73.
High jump : 1. Ghazal majd Eddin (Syr) 2.29m, 2. Keyvan Ghanbarzadeh (Iri) 2.26, 3. Hsiang Chun Hsien (Tpe) 2.23.
Javelin throw : 1. Huang Shih Feng (Tpe) 79.36m, 2. Shokirjanov Bobur (Uzb) 78.12, 3. Cheng Chao Tsun (Tpe) 75.24, 4. Devinder Singh (Ind) 73.73.
Shot put : 1. Inderjeet Singh (Ind) 19.85m MR, OR 19.84, Navpreet Singh, Ind., 2006; 2. Guo Yang Xiang (Chn) 19.26, 3. Wang Guangfu (Chn) 18.72.
Women: 100m : 1. Viktoriya Zyabkina (Kaz) 11.40s, 2. Ge Man Qi (Chn) 11.66, 3. Srabani Nanda (Ind) 11.72, 6. S. Archana (Ind) 12.04.
400m : 1. Nguyen Thi Huyen (Vie) 52.27s, 2. Rakhmanova (Kaz) 52.69, 3. M.R. Poovamma (Ind) 52.72, 6. Anilda Thomas (Ind) 54.35.
800m : W.K.L.A. Nimali (Sri) 2:06.14s, 2. M. Gomathi (Ind) 2:06.25, 3. Abeyratne Gayanthika (Sri) 2:06.62.
4x100m relay : 1. China (44.80s), 2. Thailand ‘A’ (45.03), 3. India (Himashree Roy, M.G. Padmani, Srabani Nanda, G. Gayatri, 45.33).
100m hurdles : 1. Anastasiya Pilipenko (Kaz) 13.52s, 2. Wang Dou (Chn) 13.59, 3. G. Gayathri (Ind) 13.66, 6. Meghana Shetty (Ind) 14.22.
High jump : 1. Wanida Boonwan (Tha) 1.86m, 2. Wang Lin (Chn) 1.83, 3. Jaruwan Kittiphat (Tha) 1.79.
Triple jump : 1. Irina Ektova (Kaz) 14.09m, 2. Tran Hue Hoa (Vie) 13.75, 3. Li Xiaohong (Chn) 13.57, 6. N.V. Sheena (Ind) 12.34.
Discus throw : 1. Weng Chunxia (Chn) 62.20m, 2. Feng Bin (Chn) 58.19, 3. Subenrat Insaeng (Tha) 57.73, 5. Navjeet Kaur (Ind) 51.95.
Shot put : 1. Bian Ka (Chn) 16.91m, 2. Meng Qian Qian (Chn) 16.20, 3. Lin Chia Ying (Tpe) 15.89, 5. Navjeet Kaur (Ind) 12.95.
