Asian athletics: Golds for Neeraj Chopra, Barman as India finish on top
Bhubaneswar: In a stunning show of dominance, India clinched five golds on the final day to top the medal tally for first time in the history of Asian Athletics Championships, pushing China to second spot, in their most successful campaign in the continental flagship event on Sunday.
With Sunday’s 5 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes, India ended the four-day championships on top with 29 medals (12 gold, 5 silver and 12 bronze), their highest ever medal haul.
India’s earlier best came way back in the 1985 Jakarta edition where they had won 22 medals (10 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze).
China ended this edition at the second position with 8 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze. They won 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze on Sunday.
Kazakhstan finished third with 4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze while Iran ended on fourth with 4 gold and 1 bronze.
India was ecstatic but there was drama in store as the unheralded Archana Adhav was stripped of her gold medal in the 800 metre following complaints of infringement, before javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra set a new Asian Athletics Championship record with a throw of 85.23 metres to bring cheers to the India camp. Chopra won the gold with the best attempt of 85.23 metres while the silver went to Qatar’s B.A. Ahmed at 83.70m. Davinder Singh picked bronze with an effort of 83.29 m.
Heptathlete Swapna Barman was the other star performer of the day, bagging a gold on the fourth and final day of the championships. Barman ran away with the gold despite finishing fourth in the seventh and last event of 800m, winning by virtue of points accumulated.
Earlier, Archana was stripped off her gold medal after complaints of infringement from Sri Lanka’s Nimali Waliwarsha Konda, who was declared winner of the women’s 800m race.
Pune girl Archana, who will turn 22 on July 14, was adjudged the winner in the half mile distance with her personal best time of two minutes and two seconds but Nimali later protested that the Indian had pushed her from behind before overtaking near the finish line.
Archana was thus disqualified and Nimali (2:05:23) was awarded the gold medal, while another Sri Lankan Gayanthika Thushari (2:05:27) took the silver. Japan’s Fumika Omori (2:06:50) got the bronze. India then applied to reconsider the decision but the jury of technical delegates refused saying that it was an unanimous decision.
It was a nightmare for India as national champion Tintu Luka did not finish, pulling out in the second lap. Her coach P.T. Usha said that Luka had fever and back pain but ran the race.
