Sport - Athletics

Vikas Gowda wins silver in discus

K.P. Mohan

INCHEON: : Iran's world junior champion Ehsan Hadadi spoiled what could have been a memorable debut for Vikas Gowda in the 16th Asian athletics championships here on Thursday.

Much as Gowda tried after the 20-year-old Iranian practically killed the competition with an opening round Asian record of 65.25 metres, there could be nothing better than the silver for the U.S.-based Indian youngster.

Anil Kumar, out of action for long this season following an injury, had the bronze for the second successive edition, at 59.95 metres.

"I expected something big the way he started with 62.84," said Vikas's father and coach, Shive Gowda about his son's performance. But Vikas managed just 60.71 and 59.84 after that. Three fouls featured his series.

Hadadi bettered Chinese Li Shaojie's Asian record of 65.16 set in 1996. He had finished seventh on the last occasion in Manila in 2003 but shot into prominence last year by winning the World junior title at Groseto, Italy, with a throw of 62.14 metres with a lighter discus. That happened to Iran's first athletics medal in a global meet. The meet record stood in the name of Qatari Rashid Al-Dosari, at 64.43m, registered in Colombo in 2002.

Disappointed

" I expected to win," said Vikas. "I am disappointed, but should be in top form next year," the 22-year-old Karnataka youngster who is majoring in statistics at the North Carolina University, said. He was clearly above the rest in Asia with his 64.69 metres recorded early in the season.

At best he could have been expected to be stretched by Chinese Wu Tao, the defending champion, who incidentally had no mark against his name, or Iranian Abbas Samimi, whose National record of 64.98 was bettered by Hadadi on Thursday. Hadadi, with a best of 62.93, could have been a contender only.

Aruna finishes ninth

Aruna Devi finished last but one, at ninth, in the women's 10,000 metres, but India had notable qualification success in other events, though no medal came in a card of five finals in which it figured only in three. China took three of the gold medals while Japan had one.

Sathi Geetha (52.83s) and Manjit Kaur (53.12) easily qualified for the 400m final. National record holder Anil Kumar qualified for the men's 100m final, finishing third in his semifinal heat at 10.46s.

Japan has provided some sort of a surprise by entering both its top sprinters, Shingo Suetsugu, the Paris Worlds bronze medallist in the 200m, and Nobuhara Asahara. In the event, they were not the semifinal toppers, with Qatari Khalid Yusuf Al-Obaidili winning one in 10.36 and Saudi Arabian Yahya Al Ghes winning the other in 10.40s.

Poonam in final

Woman sprinter Poonam Tomar also made it to the final as one of the fastest losers, coming fourth in her heat with 12.19s. Both Shamsher Singh (7.60m) and Mahan Singh (7.55m) went through to the long jump final, but it looked tough for them to snatch a medal.

In a mediocre heptathlon field of just five athletes, with the top Kazakh (Irina Naumenko) Japanese (Yuki Nakata) and Chinese (Shen Shengfei) absent, Indians Sushmita Singha Roy (3209 points) and Soma Biswas (3100) were lying second and fourth respectively at the end of day one. Thai Masm Watcharporn (3261) was in the lead.

Despite running their personal bests, Sinimol Paulose (fourth in 4:17.18) and O.P. Jaisha (fifth in 4:17.49) could not get into the medals in the women's 1500 metres won by Japanese Miho Sugimori in 4:12.69.

The results:

Men: Discus: 1. Ehsan Hadadi (Iri) 65.25 (Asian record, previous 65.16m), 2. Vikas Gowda (Ind) 62.84, 3. Anil Kumar (Ind) 59.95;

Women: 1500m: 1. Miho Sugimori (Jpn) 4:12.69, 2. Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz) 4:13.83, 3. Yuriko Kobayashi (Jpn) 4:14.15. 10,000m: 1. Bai Xue (Chn) 33:34.74, 2. Yumi Sato (Jpn) 33:42.11, 3. Ham Pong Sil (PRK) 34:35.30. Triple jump: 1. Limei Xie (Chn) 14.38m, 2. Anastasiya Juravleva (Uzb) 14.14, 3. Huang Qiuyan (Chn) 13.75. Shot put: 1. Li Meiju (Chn) 18.64m, 2. Zhang Guirong (Sin) 18.57, 3. Li Ling (Chn) 18.04.

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