India grab 3 gold at Asian athletics

Pinki Pramanik was the star of the Indian contingent, which reaped a harvest of three gold, five silver and four bronze medals, in the first leg of Asian Grand Prix Athletics Championships, at the National stadium in Bangkok on Thursday.

The Bengal runner claimed the top prize in the women's 800 metres, clocking 2 minutes, 7.08 seconds. She relegated Uzbek girl Amirova Zamira (2:08.57 seconds) to second place. The bronze went to Kazakhstan's Viktoriya Yalovtseva (2:08.73 seconds).

Shanti Saundarajan could only finish seventh with a timing of 2:12.56 seconds.

Pinki alo won a silver medal in the 400 metres, clocking 53.86 seconds. She lost out to Kazakh Olga Terashkova, who clocked 53.53 seconds. Manjeet Kaur (54.86 seconds) was pushed to third place.

Maha Singh continued his good form, winning the men's long jump with a leap of 7.55 metres.

Amritpal Singh finished fourth in the event, with a clearance of 7.34 metres.

Javelin throw national champion Anil Kumar won the third gold medal. He hurled the spear to a distance of 72.87metres to claimed his first title at the Asian level. Jagdish Kumar Bishnoi was fifth, with an effort of 67.69 metres.

In the absence of Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur, Krishna Poonia had to settle for silver in the women's discus throw, with an effort of 54.32 metres.

The gold went to Song Amin of China, who cleared 56.99 metres.

Navpreet Singh won the silver medal in men's shot put with a throw of 18.61 metres. He finished behind China's Zhang Ki, who heaved the iron spheroid to 19.00 metres.

In the absence of the fancied Ghamanda Ram in the men's 800 metres, compatriot Francis Sagayaraj grabbed his maiden medal in the Asian Grand Prix, a silver, with a timing of 1:53.75 seconds.

The gold went to Ehsan Moharejershojaei of Iran, who clocked 1:53.26 seconds.

Sunil Kumar left compatriot Pritam Bind in third place in the 3,000 metres to claim the silver medal with a timing of 8:25.93 seconds.

Pritam clocked 8:26.75 seconds. The gold went to China's Chen Mingfu, who won in 8:25.14 seconds.

Amidst rain and high humidity, Joseph Abraham earned India a bronze in the 400 metres hurdles, coming home in 51.89 seconds.

The gold went to Meng Yan of China (49.86 seconds), who was ahead of Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Meleshenko (50.04 seconds). Gurpreet Singh brought up the rear in 57.01 seconds.

Hari Shankar Roy claimed bronze in the men's high jump with a clearance of 2.14 metres. He finished behind Jean Claude Rabbath of Lebanon (2.21 metres) and Vietnam's Nguyen Duy Bang (2.18 metres).

Maha Singh dominated the long jump finishing ahead of Kzakhstan's Roman Valiyiv (7.50 metres) and Li Xin of China (7.48).

In the javelin, Anil Singh pipped Liu Yanbong of China (70.76 metres) and Uzbek Rinat Tarzamanov (70.37).

Satbir Singh was fifth in the 400metres in a time of 48.86 seconds.

In the blue riband event, the men's 100m, national champion Anil Kumar finished fourth in 10.53 seconds.

Chinese Yongyi Wen became the fastest man of the meet, clocking 10.30 seconds. The second place went to Thailand's Waehara Sondoo (10.43), whi finished ahead of comatriot Seksan Wongsala (10.49).

In the women's 200m field, Rajwinder Kaur disappointed, finishing a lowly seventh in 24.48 secs.

Anuradha Biswal managed a fourth place in the 100m hurdles in 14.51 secs.

Injury and illness had considerably cut down the Indian contingent that made the trip to the Thai capital. Those missing included world number four long jumper Anju Bobby George.

The Grand Prix circuit now moves to India, with the Bangalore leg on May 22 followed by the one in Pune (May 26).