Tajinderpal Singh Toor betters Asian record in shot put to qualify for Asian Games, 70 others make cut
Even in the absence of Neeraj Chopra, the National Inter-State Championship, the last Asian Games qualifying event, saw some high-octane performances nevertheless, from the nation's finest athletes, including long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor.
More than 70 competitors exceeded the qualifying standards for their individual sports established by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Asian Games. Meanwhile, except for star javelin thrower Chopra and 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, the AFI made participation in the competition mandatory for athletes who wanted to be selected for the Asian Games.
The finest performance of the five-day competition, which started on June 15, was reserved for last when shot putter Toor improved his own two-year-old Asian record of 21.10m on Monday by tossing the 7.260kg iron ball a distance of 21.77m. His outstanding performance won him a spot in the World Championships and the Asian Games.
On the other hand, Jyothi Yarraji of Andhra Pradesh won gold in both her favourite event, the 100-meter hurdles, and the 100-meter sprint, earning her the title of best female athlete of the competition. With a timing of 12.92 seconds, she beat the Asian Games qualifying standard for the 100-meter hurdles.
After becoming India's newest Diamond League medalist in Paris earlier this month, Sreeshankar entered the competition as the centre of attention, and he did not let the athletics fans down. In his first and only try in the qualifying round on Sunday, the 24-year-old athlete from Kerala recorded a remarkable leap of 8.41m, falling just 1cm short of Jeswin Aldrin's national record of 8.42m. Then, in the final, he executed his fourth and greatest leap of his career of 8.29m to easily win the gold.
Aldrin of Tamil Nadu finished in a distant second place with a best leap of 7.98 metres, which was sufficient to surpass the Asian Games qualification standard.
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