Shotputter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor took his first step back into international competition since the Asian Games gold with a 20.13m throw at the first leg of the Indian Grand Prix on Saturday.
To win gold in the season-opening event was itself significant, but the effort also helped him book a spot at the Asian Championships in April, 2019. In fact, five of his six throws were better than the qualifying mark set at 19.50m. “It wasn’t easy and I had targetted 21m here but for some reason fell short. But I have been training hard and am confident of crossing the mark soon,” Toor told Sportstar soon after his event.
Target met
The death of his father immediately after Asiad wasn’t the only obstacle in his road back to the top. While that affected his training initially, it was made worse by a blood infection that saw him land up in hospital for a fortnight in November. “I joined the camp in Patiala but fell ill within a week. I could hardly manage 13-14m on recovery. But it’s OK now. My first target was qualifying for Asian meet and I have done that,” Toor added.
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The performance on Saturday would also allow him to skip the Federation Cup next month for selection. He would instead travel to New Zealand with coach M. S. Dhillon for training later this week.
Along with Asiad 800m champion Manjit Singh, Toor was one of only a handful of prominent names that turned up at the season-opening event of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).
‘Satisfied’
Manjit, predictably, won gold on Saturday with a timing of one minute 48.54 seconds, slower than his Jakarta finish but understandable given the absence of any competition since then. “I am satisfied with my performance because this was mainly a test event ahead of the Federation Cup and I trained accordingly.
“Also, this was the season opener and we had a long rest period after Asian Games so the body will only get better in coming days,” Manjit told Sportstar . Incidentally, his mark fell just short of the 1:48 qualifying set by AFI for Asian Championships but Manjit was confident of achieving it soon.
Quartermiler Arokia Rajiv clocked 10.65 seconds to win his first-ever sprinting event, ahead of statemate V. K. Elakkiyadasan (10.72s). Ameya Kumar Mallick finished third in 11.09s. Among the women, Dutee Chand eased to victory in a field of only three runners in the 100m, in 11.51 seconds.
- Men
- 100m: Arokia Rajeev (10.65s), VKE Dasan (10.72s), Amiya Mallick (11.09s);
- 400m: Jeevan KS (47.15s), Sajin V (47.40), Harsh Kumar (47.54);
- 800m: Manjit Singh (1.48.54), Mohd Afsal (1.49.01), Ankit (1.49.57);
- 400m hurdles men: Dharun Ayyasamy (50.05s), Jabir MP (50.67), Ramachandran M (51.27);
- Steeplechase: Avinash Sable (8:41.87), Shankar Lal Swami (8:56.45), Durga Bahadur Budha (9:00.01); High Jump: Sarvesh Anil (2.10m), Chethan B (2.10m), V Bharthi (NM);
- Long Jump: Athistam K. (7.32m), Wayne Peppin (7.21m), Mehakpreet Singh (7.19m);
- Shot Put: Tajinder Pal Singh Toor (20.13m), Inderjeet Singh (19.35m), Jasdeep Singh (18.59m);
- Javelin Throw: Vipin Kasana (77.87m), Abhishek Singh (76.74m), Arshdeep Singh (74.05m);
- Discus Throw: Mithravarun S (53.27m), Surjeet Gurra (48.30m), Akash Antil (46.40m).
- Women
- 100m: Dutee Chand (11.51s), Dhanalakshmi (11.98s), Amrit Kaur (12.47s);
- 400m: VK Vismaya (53.60s), Anjali Devi (54.50s), Prachi (54.68s); 800m: Jisna Mathew (2:09.17), Priya K. (2:09.76), Archana Adhav (2:10.98);
- 400m hurdles: Saritaben Gayakwad (59.28s), Anu R (59.54s);
- Steeplechase: Parul Chaudhary (10:45.12), Chinta Yadav (10:46.58), Sudha Singh (10:54.80); Long Jump: Sowmiya M (5.73m), Marena George (5.70m), Neena Pinto (NM);
- Javelin Throw: Annu Rani (57.88m), Sharmila Kumari (51.84m), Rupinder Kaur (49.48m);
- Shot Put: Anamika Das (14.66m), Sonal Goyal (14.59m), Kachnar Chaudhary (14.45m); Discus Throw: Navjeet Kaur Dhillon (55.73m), Nidhi Rani (45.01m), Gurveer Kaur (40.14m).
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