New Delhi: When it comes to men’s sprinting at Asian level, success for Indians has been few and far between. On Saturday, Animesh Kujur demonstrated his talent clocking an impressive 20.32 seconds to finish third in the 200 metres at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea. Kujur eclipsed the national record a second time in just over a month, having clocked 20.40 seconds at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in Kochi. For once, it was the effort more than his bronze finish that stood out.
Kujur’s first major international medal also underscores the recent rapid strides Indian sprinters have made. Gurindervir Singh broke the 100m national record in March (10.20 secs) while the 4x100m relay quartet — Kujur and Gurindervir are part of it — has also reset the mark (38.69 secs).
Before he left for the continental championships, Kujur had said his desire was to “chase time and not think about medals”. “I also feel I can better that my national record, which should put me in a medal position,” the 21-year-old had said.
On Saturday, Kujur powered through the bend before holding his form and finishing behind Japan’s Towa Uzawa, who won in a championship record 20.12 secs, and Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz Abdul Atafi (20.31secs). Four of the eight finalists clocked their personal bests.
Kujur was slow off the blocks — his reaction time of 0.176secs was third slowest — but he made up with his strong bend running.
“My start was not great but I was strong at the curve, and going into the home stretch I was confident to finish on the podium. I made sure not to cede the momentum,” he said.
A first Asian level medal notwithstanding, the youngster was not satisfied. “I wanted to win gold. I am not satisfied with this result, but it will push me to clock better timing,” he said.
The Gumi meet marks a significant step-up for Kujur, who hasn’t faced much competition at home. While Uzawa had run a wind-aided 20.05 secs in the first week of May, Atafi logged a PB of 20.14 secs two weeks back.
“I don’t have much competition at home, but here I knew I’ll be up against people who have gone under 20.10secs. I quite liked the challenge.” Experience can only help in 200m.
Sachin wins silver
India’s Sachin Yadav recorded a PB of 85.16m to win silver in javelin behind Pakistan’s Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem, who threw 86.40m in his first competition post his historic high in Paris with a massive 92.97m. Japan’s Yuta Sakiyama, with a PB of 83.75m, completed the top three. All three touched the best on their last attempt.
Sachin started with a modest 79.65m and couldn’t hit 80m on his first four attempts. His fifth try was a decent 83.08m and he closed the competition with 85.16m, agonisingly falling short of the World Championships qualification mark of 85.50m.
The other Indian in the competition, Yashvir Singh, finished fifth with a PB of 82.57m. Three of his four legal throws sailed beyond 80m.
“I am not happy. I wanted to qualify for the Worlds today,” said Sachin after his first international competition.
“My body was a little tight today. It loosened only after the first few throws. My training had also taken a hit after injuries to my ankle and shoulder,” he added.
Having burst on the scene over the past year, the 6ft 5in tall thrower is seen as the next big javelin talent to emerge from the country after double Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra. Hailing from Khekra village near Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, Sachin’s previous best was 84.39m which he achieved at the National Games in Dehradun this year.
Other Indian medallists on final day: Silver: 4x100m women’s relay (43.86 secs – Srabani Nanda, Sneha Shanuvalli, Abinaya Rajarajan, Nithya Gandhe) women’s 5,000m (Parul Chaudhary, who also took 3,000m steeplechase silver); bronze: women’s 400m hurdles (Vithya Ramraj-56.46 secs) and 800m Pooja-2:01.89).
