Tintu Luka’s long wait is finally over

Jinson and mile relay women bag silver; India finishes third in the medal’s tally

June 08, 2015 12:27 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:01 pm IST - WUHAN:

Kochi, Kerala, 07/06/15. Tintu Luka on her way to the women's 800m gold at the 21st Asian Athletics Championship at Wuhan, China, on Sunday. Photo: Spl

Kochi, Kerala, 07/06/15. Tintu Luka on her way to the women's 800m gold at the 21st Asian Athletics Championship at Wuhan, China, on Sunday. Photo: Spl

After years of waiting, Tintu Luka finally got an 800m gold when she won at the Asian athletics championships here on Sunday, a day when India added two silvers through Kerala’s Jinson Johnson in the men’s two-lapper and the women’s 4x400m relay team and two bronze medals to make it a happy finish.

Both the bronze medals came in the 200m in the men’s and women’s sections. Haryana’s Dharambir Singh broke the 15-year-old national record of Kerala’s Anil Kumar when he clocked 20.66s while finishing behind Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, who completed a sprint double, and Saudi Arabian Fahhad al Subaie.

Odisha’s Srabani Nanda brought the other bronze, her first big medal, in a personal best 23.54s.

Tintu, who had already secured her berth for this August’s World championships in Beijing when she won the Asian Games silver in Incheon on October 1, the day the qualification gates opened, had planned to run below two minutes here on Sunday.

That would have helped the national record-holder book her ticket for next year’s Rio Olympics where the entry standard is 2:01 but heavy rain spoiled her run.

However Tintu, who is coached by P.T. Usha, came up with a season-best time of 2:01.53.

Tamil Nadu’s M. Gomathi fell out of the medal zone despite clocking a personal best time.

The heavy rain, which hurt many who were looking to qualify for the Worlds, also produced the championships’ biggest upset.

Qatar’s world-leading high jumper, Mutaz Essa Barshim who is just three centimetres away from the world record, fell to bronze in 2.20m in what could be his poorest medal-winning jump in many years.

Relay surprise

There was surprise for the Indians too with its women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Jisna Mathew, Tintu Luka, Majumder Debashree and M.R. Poovamma losing a close final to China.

The Indian women had won their fourth straight mile relay gold at the Asian Games last year and at Incheon, they achieved it by breaking the Games record with a time of 3:28.68.

But here it was a new combination which did not have much practice together too. India clocked 3:33.81 to China’s 3:33.44.

Meanwhile, the men’s relay team of V. Sajin, A. Dharun, Sachin Roby and Arokia Rajeev finished fourth behind Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Japan. Lalita Babar, who had won her maiden Asian gold on Saturday in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, was in action in the 10,000m but she failed to finish the race.

India finished third on the medals table, behind host China and Qatar, with four golds, five silvers and four bronze medals for a total of 13 medals.

It was the country’s best performance after the championships’ 2007 edition when it won 15 medals in Amman (Jordan), including five golds.

India finished fifth at the last edition in Pune and its medal tally included three golds.

Host China finished with 41 medals here, including 15 golds while Qatar had 10 medals, seven of them golds.

The results:

Men: 200m: 1. Femi Ogunode (Qat) 20.32s, 2. Fahhad al Subaie (KSA) 20.63, 3. Dharambir Singh (Ind) 20.66.

800m: 1. Musaab Abdelrahman Bala (Qat) 1:49.40s, 2. Jinson Johnson (Ind) 1:49.69, 3. Kawamoto Sho (Jpn) 1:50.50.

4x400m relay: 1. Qatar 3:02.50 MR, OR 3:02.53, 2. Saudi Arabia, 3:02.62, 3. Japan 3:03.47, 4. India (V. Sajin, A. Dharun, Sachin Roby, Arokia Rajeev) 3:05.14.

High jump: 1. Eto Takashi (Jpn) 2.24m, 2. Hsiang Chunhsien (Tpe) 2.24, 3. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qat) 2.20.

Decathlon: 1. Nakamura Akihiko (Jpn) 7773 pts, 2. Guo Qi (Chn) 7289, 3. Hu Yufei (Chn) 7042.

Women: 200m: 1. Viktoriya Zyabkina (Kaz) 23.09s, 2. Olga Safronova (Kaz) 23.46, 3. Srabani Nanda (Ind) 23.54.

800m: 1. Tintu Luka (Ind) 2:01.53s, 2. Zhao Jing (Chn) 2:03.40, 3. Nimali Liyanarachchi (Sri) 2:03.94, 4. M. Gomathi (Ind) 2:04.89.

10,000m: 1. Alia Mohammed Saeed (UAE) 31:52.29s MR, OR 32:17.29, 2. Eunice Chumba (Brn) 32:22.29, 3. Numata Michi (Jpn) 32:44.57, Lalita Babar (DNF).

4x400m relay: 1. China 3:33.44s, 2. India (Jisna Mathew, Tintu Luka, Majumder Debashree, M.R. Poovamma) 3:33.81, 3. Kazakhstan 3:35.14.

Triple jump: 1. Wang Wupin (Chn) 13.76m, 2. Li Yanmei (Chn) 13.57, 3. Wang Rong (Chn) 13.44.

Javelin: 1. Liu Shiying (Chn) 61.33m MR, 2. Yang Xinli (Chn) 59.24, 3. Miyashita Risa (Jpn) 54.76, 5. Annu Rani (Ind) 51.26, 9. Devi Suman (Ind) 46.55.

Shot put: 1. Guo Tianqian (Chn) 18.59m, 2. Gao Yang (Chn) 17.98, 3. Bian Ka (Chn) 17.78.

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