China, Apr 28 (PTI): Long jumper V Neena claimed India’s lone gold of the day while javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra met the qualifying norm for August’s World Championships in the second leg of the Asian Grand Prix here on Thursday.
On a cold evening, Neena, who had won the silver in the first leg three days ago, leapt to 6.37 metres for the top spot, ahead of China’s Xu Xiao Ling, who also jumped the same distance.
Ling, in fact, took the lead in the final round before Neena matched it with her last jump. On a countback, the Indian clinched the gold, having jumped 6.32 two times in the previous rounds, which was matched once by the Chinese. Neena had won silver in the first leg with a jump of 6.46 metres.
World junior champion and record holder Neeraj had narrowly missed the qualifying mark of 83.00 metres while winning the silver in the first leg. On this day, he hurled the spear to 83.32 metres even as Chinese Taipei’s Chao-Tsun Cheng nailed the gold with an 86.92 metres.
India won three silver medals in the women’s events. Manpreet Kaur, champion in the first leg in shot put, slipped to second spot behind Bian Ka of China, with a 17.44M effort. Tintu Luka, struggled in the cold conditions, finished behind China’s Wang Chunyu in 2:06.32 in the 800M while Dutee Chand claimed silver in the 100M in 11.57 seconds. Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Zyabkina won the gold in 11.36 seconds.
In men’s shot put, Om Prakash Singh again claimed the bronze with a 18.73M effort while Jinson Johnson, the silver winner in the first leg, was last with a 1:53.76 in the 800M.
Indian results: Men: Shot put: Wu Jiaxiang (China) 19.09 metres, 1; Ali Samari (Iran) 18.99, 2; Om Prakash Singh (India) 18.73, 3.
Javelin: Chao-Tsun Cheng (Chinese Taipei) 86.92 metres, 1; Neeraj Chopra (India) 83.32, 2; Huang Shih Feng (Chinese Taipei) 78.55, 3.
Women: 100M:?Viktoriya Zyabkina (Kazakhstan) 11.36 seconds, 1; Dutee Chand (India) 11.57, 2; Le Tu Chinh (Vietnam) 11.67, 3.
800M:?Wang Chunyu (China) 2:05.86, 1; Tintu Luka (India) 2:06.32, 2; Nimali Liyanarachchi (Sri Lanka) 2:07.51, 3.
Long jump:?V Neena (India) 6.37 metres, 1; Xu Xiao Ling (China) 6.37, 2; Jiang Yan Fei (China) 6.25, 3.
Shot put:?Bian Ka (China) 18.08 metres, 1; Manpreet Kaur (India) 17.44, 2; Song Jia Yuan (China) 17.39, 3.