Harminder gives India 2nd athletics medal, others disappoint

Sat, Oct 09 10 09:51 PM

Philem Dipak Singh New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Harminder Singh today became the first Indian to win a medal in a walk race in Commonwealth Games history a day afte Kavita Raut won the first-ever women''s track medal, but their compatriots disappointed in other athletics events. The 26-yer-old Pujabi walker from Patiala won a surprise bronze in the mens 20km road event to give the country their second athletics medal in these Games, while also clocking his personal best of 1 hour, 23 minutes and 27 seconds. Australians Jared Talent (1:22.18) and Luke Adams (1:22.31) won the gold and silver respectively. Talent had won a bronze in 2008 Beijing Olympics while Adams was a silver medallist in 2006 the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Harminder was narrowly off Babu Bhai Panuchas national mark of 1:23.06. Panucha, incidentally, did not finished the walk race while another Indian Baljinder Singh was ninth in 1:29.18. With Harminder''s medal, India have won two bronze from athletics with Kavita Raut having finished third in the womens 10,000m race yesterday. Harminder was only the fifth man to win an athletics medal in Games history after Milkha Singh (gold in men''s 440yard race in 1958), Praveen Kumar (silver in men''s hammer throw in 1966), Mohinder Singh Gill (bronze in men''s triple jump in 1970; silver in men''s triple jump in 1974) and Suresh Babu (bronze in men''s long jump in 1978). In women''s 20km race walk, however, Rani Yadav finished sixth in 1:42.54 while K J Sandhya was eighth in 1:51.44. L Deepmala Devi did not finish the race. England''s Jo Jackson won gold in 1:34.22 in Games record time of 1:34.22 to win her country''s first yellow metal in this event in CWG. Claire Tallent of Australia won the silver in 1:36.55 while Kenyan Grace Njue bagged the bronze in 1:37.49. In the evening, other Indians could not emulate Harminder''s feat on the fourth day of the track and field events even though the showpiece venue Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was thronged by nearly 40,000 spectators, the biggest so far. In women''s shot put final, Manpreet Kaur and Patwant Kaur finished a distant ninth and 11th in the 12-athlete field. Manpreet threw 14.50m while Patwant cleared 12.63m. Valerie Adams of New Zealand won gold in Games record distance of 20.47m which erased compatriot Valerie Vili''s 19.66m effort in 2006 Melbourne Games. Clepatra Brown (19.03m) of Trinidad and Tobagoa and Tasele Satupai (16,63m) of Samoa won silver and bronze respectively. (More) PDS SSR

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