Ostrava (Czech Republic), Sept 9:
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh today created history by becoming the first Indian to win a medal in the IAAF Continental Cup as he clinched a bronze but star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra finished sixth with a below-par show here.
Arpinder, who had won a gold in the Asian Games in Jakarta, cleared a modest 16.59m in the first of his three jumps to be in the four-man semifinals. He could only clear a 16.33m jump in his next attempt to miss out on the two-man final jump. Nonetheless, he collected a bronze.
The 25-year-old Arpinder was representing the Asia-Pacific team in the meet, held once every four years. He had jumped 16.77m in Jakarta and has a personal best of 17.17m which he recorded in 2014.
No Indian has ever won a medal in the Continental Cup which was known as the IAAF World Cup before 2010. Two top athletes from the four regions of Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific were taking part in each of the 36 events in men and women sections taken together.
Reigning Olympic and world champion Christian Taylor of the United States easily took the gold with a jump of 17.59m, which is one metre more than the best effort of Arpinder.(PTI)
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