Lijesh Kumar wins javelin gold

Javelin thrower Lijesh Kumar grabbed his first international gold medal, upsetting compatriot and national champion Jagdish Bishnoi even as the Indian performance slumped on the final day of athletics at the Jinnah stadium in Islamabad on Tuesday evening.

India could collect only four gold, two silver and five bronze medals on the concluding day to end with a tally of 15 golds, 12 silvers and 14 bronze from 32 finals, a far cry from their performance in the last edition in Kathmandu in 1999 when they won 22 gold, 18 silver and eight bronze medals.

Sri Lanka finished a close second on gold count, with 12 gold, nine silver and three bronze medals.

In the men's long jump, Amrit Pal Singh, who last month betterd T C Yohannan's 30-year-old record soaring to 8.08 metres in New Delhi, had to rest content with the bronze medal. He could clear only 7.59m.

However, Maha Singh ensured that India won the gold with a leap of 7.80m while Pakistan's Ghulam Abbas (7.60m) claimed the silver.

Going into the event, Amritpal was the cynosure of all eyes with his personal best far better than the rest of the field. But the youngster, suffering from a hamstring injury, erred in his take-off and had to be satisfied with his 7.59m, which came in his fifth attempt. In the sixth and last try, he landed in pain with his face in the pit and had to be carried off.

India won relay gold medals in the women's 4 x 400m and men's 4 x 100m, the latter in a new Games record time.

In the 4 x 400m relay for men, Pakistan won the gold in controversial circumstances. The Pakistan runners first wrongly changed the lane and then close to the tape Rana Sagar Ahmed allegedly elbowed Indian anchor P Shankar.

However, India's coach J S Saini informed the officials that he has no complaint.

In the javelin throw, Lijesh, an Army Sports Academy product from Pune, overshadowed everyone else including Bishnoi, who failed to get into the medal bracket, with a superb throw of 75.71 metres in his very first attempt.

Though Lijesh could not better the mark in his next five tries, it was enough to win the gold.

Pakistanis Zahid Hussain and Irfan Muhammad won the silver and bronze medals respectively while Bishnoi finished fourth with 70.23 metres, well below his personal best of 79.67m.

Results:

(Men)

1500m: Atta Miran (Pakistan) 3:43.40, Chaminda Wijekoon (Sri Lanka) 44.85, Ghamanda Ram (India) 3:50.18.

110m hurdles: Abdul Rashid (Pakistan) 14.33 seconds, Muhammad Shah (Pakistan) 14.41, Krishna Mohan (India) 14.42.

Long jump: Maha Singh (India) 7.70 metres, Ghulam Abbas (Pakistan) 7.60, Amrit Pal Singh (India) 7.59.

Javelin throw: Lijesh Kumar (India) 75.71 metres, Zahid Hussain (Pakistan) 74.67, Irfan Muhammad (Pakistan) 71.10.

4x100m relay: India (B G Nagaraj, Sandeep Sarkaria, Piyush Kumar, Vilas Neelgund) 39.91, Sri Lanka 40.09, Pakistan 40.36.

4x400m relay: Sri Lanka (Rohan Pradeepakumara, Ranga Wimalawansa, Prasanna Amarasekara, Sugath Thilakratne) 3:05.80, Pakistan (Saeed Ahmad, Basit Muneer, Abdul Majid,
Rana Sagher Ahmed) 3:07.03, India (Sreejith P S, K Suresh, Anil Kumar Rohil, P Shankar) 3:07.13.

(Women)

100m hurdles: Sriyani Kulawansa (Sri Lanka) 13.37 seconds, K N Priya (India) 13.84, Soma Biswas (India) 13.88.

4x100m relay: Sri Lanka (Achala Dias, Sujani Buddika, Jani Chathurngani, Sriyani Kulawansa) 46.13, India (Greeshma K M, K N Priya, Rakhi Saha, Poonam Tomar) 46.21, Bangladesh 47.92.

4x400m relay: India (Chitra K Soman, Sagardeep Kaur, Pinki Pramanik, S Geetha) 3:33.49, Sri Lanka 3:44.12, Pakistan 3:46.10.

Final medals tally in athletics: