Jakarta, Aug 29: Swapna Barman became the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold while Arpinder Singh ended a 48-year long wait for triple jump victory after Dutee Chand blazed the track for her second silver on an action-packed day of athletics here today.
Barman, who has six toes in both her feet, battled sever tooth ache during her event and competed with a tape on her right cheek. Still, she produced her career-best performance by logging 6026 aggregate points from the seven events.
Before Barman, only Bengal’s Soma Biswas and Karnataka’s J J Shobha and Pramila Aiyappa had returned with a medal from the Asian Games. Biswas and Shobha had finished two-three at both Busan Asian Games (2002) and the Doha Games (2006), while Pramila had won a bronze at the 2010 Guangzhou edition.
A dehydrated Arpinder jumped 16.77m in his third attempt to win the men’s triple jump gold.
India’s last Asian Games gold medal in men’s triple jump had come in 1970 from Mohinder Singh Gill.
Dutee today added a silver to her kitty by finishing second in the women’s 200m after finishing second in the women’s 100m dash a few days before. She crossed the finishing line in 23.20 seconds, behind Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong who clinched the gold in 22.96. The bronze went to China’s Wei Yongli (23.27).
Dutee joined her illustrious compatriots such as P T Usha in the list of athletes who have won more than one medal at the Asian Games.
The legendary Usha had swept four gold medals at the 1986 Seoul Games, winning 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay. Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (800m and 1500m) had also won two medals at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Sunita Rani (1500m, 5000m) also returned with two medals from the 2002 Busan Games.
In men’s 1500m, Jinson Johnson and Manjit Singh made it to the final race at overall second and seventh in the qualification race.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
