GUWAHATI: Rio Olympics bound shot putter Manpreet Kaur stole the limelight as Indians pocketed five gold medals from athletics on the opening day of the event in the 12th South Asian Games here today.
India won five gold, six silver and three bronze in the nine events held at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium. Sri Lanka gave a tough fight to the home athletes by winning four gold, one silver and five bronze.
Kaur bagged the first gold of the day for India by winning the women’s shot put event with a throw of 17.94m. Her namesake, Manpreet Junior got the silver with a throw of 15.94m while W Fernando bagged the bronze in 14.87m in a four-woman field.
Railways shot putter Manpreet fell short by just two centimetres of touching her own national record of 17.96m which she set while qualifying for Olympics during the 55th National Open Athletics Championship last year.
Neeraj Kumar bagged the second gold for India in men’s hammer throw with an effort of 66.14m. Pakistan’s Shakeel Ahmed took the silver in 63.67m while L Alansan of Sri Lanka won the bronze in 46.38m. (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel