Poonia settles for bronze, Prajusha ninth

Tue, Nov 23 10 05:52 PM

Guangzhou, Nov 23 (PTI) A below par Krishna Poonia had to settle for a bronze in women''s discus throw on the third day of track and field competitions in the Asian Games here today. Poonia, who had won a bronze in Doha Asian Games four years ago, was expected to win at least a medal going by the performances of the seven throwers in the field and it was a question of the colour of the medal. The three-way contest among Commonwealth Games champion Poonia, Doha Asian Games gold medallist Song Aimin of China and another Chinese Li Yangfeng, however, turned out to be two-way as Poonia could not improve upon her 61.94m which she achieved in her first attempt. Poonia''s effort was more than her CWG gold-winning 61.51m effort but well below her personal best as well as season''s best of 63.69m. Season''s leader and VTB Bank Continental Cup winner, Yangfeng hurled 66.18m, a tad below her personal best of 66.40m, in her second attempt to win the gold. Aimin was trailing Poonia before clearing her silver-winning 64.04m, her season''s best but lower than her personal best of of 65.44m, in her fourth attempt. Another Indian in the fray, Harwant Kaur, who had won a silver in the CWG, was a distant fourth with a disappointing 57.55m effort. The two Indians in the women''s long jump -- Mayookha Johny and M A Prajusha -- came a cropper, finishing seventh and ninth out of 14 finalists. Mayookha jumped 6.33m, which she cleared in her first attempt, much below her season''s second leading effort of 6.64m which she cleared in New Delhi Asian All Stars Meet in July. Prajusha, who had won a silver in the Commonwealth Games in the same event, could clear only a dismal 6.11m, well below her CWG effort of 6.47m. Jung Soo Nok of South Korea was the surprised winner with a jump of 6.53m as she pushed Doha Asian Games bronze winner Olga Rypakova (6.50m) of Kazakhstan and season''s leader Yulia Tarasova (6.49m) of Uzbekistan to second and third respectively. National record holder Hari Shankar Roy finished last in men''s high jump among 12 competitors after failing to clear 2.15m. Roy could only clear 2.10m in his third attempt. Season''s leader Essa Mutaz Barshim of Qatar won the gold with a leapt of 2.27m, a tad below his 2.31m effort in Hanoi in July. Japanese Takahari Hiromi won the silver with an effort of 2.23m while Rashid Ahmed Al Mannai, who won the VTB Continental Cup in September, won the bronze with 2.19m. MORE PTI PDS SHN

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