DOHA: India’s Mayookha Johny upped her tally of medals at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, as she won silver medal in the triple jump, here on Saturday. Last evening she had claimed a gold in the long jump event with a leap of 6.35m.
Mayookha cleared 14.00m in the women’s triple jump event. The gold went to Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan who set a new meet record with 14.32m. Rypakova’s teammate Irina Ektova ended third with 13.48m.
“I wasn’t at my best, but it’s still a good feeling to win. This being an Olympic year, I was looking at the Asian event as a preparatory event for it. I’m happy with the result,” said Rypakova.
Meanwhile, Qatar continued to dominate the proceedings for the second day in a row at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, at the Aspire Dome on Saturday.
Qatari athletes followed the footsteps of star high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, who had on Friday created history, by becoming the first-ever athlete to win an event in the Championships four times in a row. Barshim had cleared the 2.35m high bar on way to scripting his names in the annals of track and field glory.
Today, Mohamad Al Garni, the regaining champion in the 1500m, slashed 4.02 seconds from Kamal Ali Thamer’s record of 3:40:37secs that was set at the same venue in 2008. In the process he not only set a new meet record, but also made it to the podium with the gold medal glittering around his neck.
Bahrain's Benson Seurei (3:37.08) finished second while Qatar's Said Aden Said came in third place (3:37.29).
But, the trend of setting records didn’t just end there for Qatar’s athletes continued the haul throughout the evening.
In the men’s 400m, Qatar’s Abdellelah Haroun set a new championship record (45.88secs) en route to winning gold. The young 19-year old, who had created a world record mark in 500m, was in a superlative form. He finished ahead of Bahrain’s Abubaker Abbas (46.60) and Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Litvin (46.80).
“I gave all I had left in the tank, but I certainly can go faster. My target here was to win the race, nothing more. For me, the next stop is Portland,” he said post his win.
“I’m working really hard this season ahead of the Olympics. I was unlucky to miss the Worlds last year and I wanted to finish what’s left undone. Breaking the 500m world record displayed my potential.”
Bahraini athletes continue to impress
In the women’s 400m, Bahrain's Oluwakemi Mujidat Adekoya blazed away to glory. She grabbed the first place with a new Asian and Championship record of 51.67m. In the process she broke the long-standing Asian Indoor Record had been set by China's Li Yajun way back in 1996.
Yesterday, the 23-year old, Nigeria-born athlete clocked 51.68 seconds in the 400m heats, improving the meet record by 1.6 seconds. Today, she bettered her own mark en route to gold.
Kazakhstan's Elina Mikhina (53.85) and Vietnam's Quach Thi Lan (55.69) finished second and third respectively.
UAE Bethlem Desalegn shines
The UAE’s Bethlem Desalegn added the 3,000m Asian indoor title to her 1,500m gold medal.
She swept to gold in 8mins 44.59sec, almost three seconds ahead of Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet (8:47.24) and the UAE’s Alia Mohammed Saeed (8:48.62).
“I needed to push hard, to meet qualification standards for Portland. I had suffered many setbacks over the last three years due to a problem with my Achilles. I’m still not one hundred percent fit, but I’ll fight for a medal at the Worlds after finishing sixth in Sopot in 2014,” she said.
Earlier, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina won the women's pentathlon with a score of 4,224 points. Iran's Sepideh Hossein (3,828) and Japan's Chie Kiriyama (3,637) finished second and third respectively.
The protest filed by Iranian officials, against India's Swapna Barman for lane infringement in the pentathlon’s final event - the 800m - was upheld. Barman had originally finished in second place behind Ekaterina.
