M A I N   N E W S

Beenamol, Bahadur clinch gold

Busan, October 8
Ace middle-distance runner K. M. Beenamol and the experienced Bahadur Singh led an Indian resurgence by picking up a gold each as the athletes scooped up six medals on the second day of the showpiece athletics event in the 14th Asian Games here today.

After Anju George had set the tempo by claiming India’s first gold medal in track and field events in women’s long jump yesterday, Beenamol and Bahadur Singh stole the limelight by picking up the glittering gold medal in the women’s 800m and men’s shot put respectively on a successful day for the Indians.

Madhuri A Singh (women’s 800m) and Soma Biswas (heptathlon) also brought cheers for the country with silver medals while seasoned shot putter Shakti Singh and J J Shobha (heptathlon) were the bronze medals winners.

With the addition of six more medals to their kitty today, India’s medal tally in athletics has gone up to seven - three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The 27-year-old Beenamol, almost a certainty to win the gold here going by her current form, kept her reputation intact as she finished first running a tactical race in 800m.

Beenamol was lying in the fifth place till the last 100 metres of the race before a brilliant burst in the home stretch took her past compatriot Madhuri Singh and won with a margin of about six yards.

The ace Indian middle distance runner did not stretch herself in the first lap as she remained in the inner cluster but came out from the second lane to overtake the others and finish the race in style much to the delight of some of the members of the Indian contingent who cheered her all the way.

“Its great feeling to have won the gold for the country. It was not such a tough race as I expected. I could have done better,” Beenamol said after the gruelling race.

The Kerala runner gave a lot of credit to team-mate Madhuri for setting up the race for her well. “She did very well and since the whole race was quite slow, I did not have much difficulty in the final stretch,” she said.

“I am basically a 400m runner and knew if I could preserve something for the end, I could win the race. I started slowly keeping this in mind.”

Although she did not come near her personal best timing, Beenamol clocked 2 minutes 04.07 seconds. Madhuri had to be content with the silver medal with a timing of 2:04.94 sec. Uzbekistan’s Zamira Amirova took home the bronze medal in 2:05.05s.

The 29-year-old Bahadur Singh got only one throw right but that was enough to give him the gold as he hurled the iron ball to a distance of 19.03m to fetch India’s second gold in Athletics.

After his first throw was not measured, Bahadur got it right in the second attempt but could not improve upon that mark fouling all his subsequent chances.

“I just wanted to put everything for the sake of the country, I am glad that it has borne fruit. I am very happy that I could win the gold,” Bahadur said.

Shakti Singh, who holds the Asian record of 20.60m, managed to clinch the bronze medal although he was tied with Kuwait’s Ahmad Gholoum on 18.27m. The Indian was given the third position since he had a better second-best throw.

The silver medal in the event was pocketed by Qatar’s Bilalsaad S Mubarak who cleared a distance of 18.98m.

The women heptathletes also did the country proud as Soma Biswas (5899 pts) and J J Shoba (5870 pts) claimed the silver and bronze medal respectively to complete a satisfying day for the Indians. The gold went to China’s Shengfei Shen who accumulated a total of 5911 points.

Sri Lanka’s star sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe expectedly emerged as the fastest woman of the meet with a new Games record of 11.15 seconds in the 100m, while the honour of being the fastest man went to Saudi Arabia’s Jamal Al Safaar in a time of 10.24s.

India’s Sarawati Saha took the seventh spot in the women’s 100m clocking 11.59s, an effort which would not make her too happy since she is capable of returning better timings.

In the men’s hammer throw, India’s Pramod Tiwari finished sixth with a throw of 64.54m in his fifth attempt. Tiwari, who was not really a medal contender, did reasonably well considering the presence of the strong Japanese and Chinese throwers.

The hammer gold was annexed by Japan’s Koji Murofushi who touched a distance of 78.72m to establish a new Games record while compatriot Hiroaki Doi took home the silver though falling well behind with 69.57m. China’s Kuigang Ye threw took the bronze with 68.18m. PTI