Abha Khatua booked herself a spot at the 2022 Asian Games with a gold-winning throw of 17.09 metres at the inaugural Indian Open Throws Competition here on Sunday even as the couple of big names in the fray reiterated their superiority in a limited field with less-than-impressive outings.
The 26-year old heptathlete-turned-shotputter Abha cleared the Asiad qualifying mark of 17m in her fifth throw, becoming only the fourth Indian woman to cross the mark in the process. National record holder Manpreet Kaur had to be content with second spot and a 16.74m throw.
In the men’s section, Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor topped with a decent outing and a throw of 19.94m, good enough to clear the Asiad qualifying mark of 19.90m. Toor, participating for the first time since Tokyo and after a wrist surgery in September last, had already booked his spot at the Olympics and was satisfied with his maiden outing in more than six months, insisting he would only get better.
In discus Seema Punia, however, had a mediocre outing, winning gold despite throwing under 55m even as Sarita Singh, at 32 years, continued to remain the numero uno in hammer throw, crossing the 61m mark with ease and more than 14m ahead of second-placed Preeti. Interestingly, only three participants turned up for the event among the men and none of them could clear even the 55m mark.
The results:
Men: Hammer: 1. Mahipal Singh Yadav (MP, 54.80m), 2. Dupinder Singh (Har, 54.53m), 3. Chetan (Har, 51.51m); Shot Put: 1. Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Pun, 19.94m), 2. Karanveer Singh (Pun, 19.17m), 3. Aniket (Utk, 17.63m); Discus: 1. Arjun (Del, 53.28m), 2. Prashant Malik (Har, 50.38m), 3. Arvind Rathee (Har, 50.25m); Javelin: 1. Rohit Yadav (UP, 77.89m), 2. Sahil Silwal (Har, 77.01m), Rishabh Nehra (UP, 72.60m).
Women: Hammer: 1. Sarita Singh (UP, 61.78m), 2. Preeti Sherawat (UP, 47.06m), 3. Maninderjit Kaur (Pun, 45m); Shot Put: 1. Abha Khatua (Mah, 17.09m), 2. Manpreet Kaur (Har, 16.74m), 3. Kachnar Chaudhary (Raj, 14.35m); Discus: 1. Seema Punia (UP, 54.93m), 2. Nidhi Rani (Har, 51.85m), 3. Sunita (Har, 48.05m); Javelin: 1. Sanjana Chaudhary (Raj, 52.41m), 2. Sharmila Kumari (Har, 51.40m), 3. Sakshi Sharma (UP, 45.98m).
